Diplomacy at the United Nations: The dual agenda of the 1992 security council summit

The Security Council summit meeting of 31 January 1992 was supposed to be a momentous event that would determine the course of the world body and international peace and security in the post-Cold War era. Despite high expectations, though, the actual meeting did not produce much more than a broadly-phrased declaration of good intentions. The article examines the hypothesis that the meeting had a dual agenda, with a hidden as well as a public part. It is argued that the main item on the hidden agenda was the confirmation, beyond any doubt or potential challenge, of Russia as the rightful successor to the USSR permanent seat on the Security Council. This suited well the weakened major remnant of the former Soviet Union as well as the other permanent members of the Security Council, especially the UK and France, who had good reasons to want to defer indefinitely any reexamination of the Council's composition and powers.     

Voting in the United Nations security council

Recently, both within and outside of the U.N. there have been serious debates on certain proposals which are aimed at changing the voting structure of the Security Council. However, neither the proponents nor the opponents of these proposals provide any evidence whatsoever about consequences of the change. This paper has dealt with two critical areas: 1) the role of the veto in the functioning of the U.N. is analyzed and articulated and 2) recent proposals to change the voting structure of the Council are analyzed and their theoretical consequences are identified.     

Keeping Cyprus off the agenda: British and American relations at the United Nations, 1954-58

From 1954 to 1958, the Greek government sought to raise the issue of self-determination for Cyprus at the United Nations as a means of pressing for the union of the island with the Greek state - enosis. The British government's objective was to ensure if possible that Cyprus was not debated using the legal argument that it was a domestic issue in which the UN had no rights. The British accepted, however, that other political and strategic arguments would be needed to defeat the Greeks and looked to the US government to support them in the UN forums. This article examines the positions of the British and Americans governments and shows the difficulties which the issue created for both in the UN in the period.     

The humanitarian responsibilities of the United Nations Security Council: Ensuring the security of the people1

The United Nations Charter confers on the Security Council prime responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. Yet these very concepts are undergoing radical change. More than the absence of war, peace has come to mean harmony both within and among nations. It has acquired a dimension far larger than the original State-centred notion of the Charter. Security connotes inclusion, cohesion, and integration - a sense of belonging to a society and a prevailing international order that is predicated on fairness and respect for differences and human dignity. Today, especially given the rise in conflicts of a non-international character, the Council musturgently review the appropriateness of existing instruments and traditional diplomacy. The author calls for better links between the UN, the Security Council, NGOs, and civil-society organisations; and proposes legal and practical mechanisms both to afford better protection to aid workers and to ensure that, when they are applied, sanctions regimes are effective means of placing pressure on those responsible for the abuse of power.     

联合国的现在与未来

“9·1 1事件”一年来 ,联合国在国际反恐中发挥了重要作用。 2 0 0 2年 8月 2 6日 ,联合国在南非召开了可持续发展“地球峰会” ,有一百多个国家的政府领导人与会。 9月1 0日 ,第 57届联大揭幕。联合国的地位、作用及其在 2 1世纪的发展前景再次成为人们关注与思考的焦点。为此 ,本期特邀请中国现代国际关系研究所的几位专家 ,以联合国的现在与未来为题举行对谈 ,就联合国的发展演变、其地位与作用的变化、特别是“9·1 1”后联合国面临的新使命和新挑战及 2 1世纪发展前景等问题 ,进行了探讨。或许 ,这些探讨还有欠深入 ,如能由此引发您的进一步思考并就相关问题提出新观点、新看法 ,将是我们的最大收获。     

联合国的民主及其治理

冷战结束后,联合国在众多国际领域的治理及其影响日益广泛,对联合国的民主问责便成为理论和现实中的一种必然要求.本文从联合国成员内部的民主、成员间民主和全球民主三个层次考察了联合国的民主之内涵.在此基础上阐述了联合国的民主治理及其治理机制完善的主要变革途径.     

联合国改革的现实基础

联合国改革是指为了适应国际关系的变化和提高效率,而对联合国进行的机构性演变的过程。联合国自身发展的需要和国际关系的变化,是联合国改革的内外动因。"9.11"事件后,国际法律秩序的危机成了影响联合国改革进程的重要因素之一。     

The unwanted child of the United Nations?

This article details and defends the role of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA). UN involvement in population activities has come under attack by Marxists, Catholics, and other forces. Although the Fund provides assistance for activities in the area of population, including family planning, it is not an agency for world population control. Establishment of a strong UN role in population assistance has not reduced other forms of development assistance. The UNFPA stresses the need for development decision making at the local level and the link between population and development. Assistance is provided only after a request has been made, and no particular view of either problem or solution is imposed. In the 1st 3 years of operation, funds dispersed by the UNFPA increased 10-fold. The steady increase in requests may reflect distrust on the part of governments for bilateral population aid.     

The United Nations in the new world disorder

Dimitris Bourantonis and Jarrod Wiener (eds.), The United Nations in the New World Order: The World Organization at Fifty (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1995)

Klaus Hüfner (ed.), Agenda for Change: New Tasks for the United Nations (Opladen: Leske & Budrich, 1995)

David Whittaker, United Nations in Action (London: UCL Press, 1995)     

United Nations sanctions: Lessons of experience

Despite the apparent virtues of UN sanctions in terms of legitimacy and universality, attention in recent years has focused on their questionable achievements and adverse consequences. In particular, the cost of imposing sanctions is unevenly spread, while comprehensive measures harm the civilian population in the target and spare those responsible for the offending policies. This article discusses the merits of UN sanctions in the context of the membership and practice of the Security Council and looks closely at flaws in sanctions programmes and in their administration. Experience suggests careful review of alternative means of pressure as well as reform of existing procedures.     

The Cambodian Waltz: The Khmer Rouge and United Nations intervention

Approaching the 1989–93 Cambodian peace process from the Khmer Rouge point of view, this article explores how the group's nature, history and ideology conditioned its unco‐operative response and tactics towards United Nations intervention. It observes that the Khmer Rouge, once it realized it could not manipulate the structures of the peace process to the benefit of its own aspirations, adopted a two‐track policy. It remained outside the peace process, awaiting the withdrawal of the UN, preserving its military potential to take power afterwards. At the same time, it attempted to retain its international and domestic support despite its non‐co‐operation, by accusing UNTAC of subverting the Peace Agreements. Finally, the article explores how UNTAC was able to salvage the peace process despite the best efforts of the Khmer Rouge.     

联合国与中东和平进程

联合国是二战后全球性的国际组织 ,在国际事务中所起的作用举足轻重。本文主要论述了联合国对巴勒斯坦问题态度的演变 ,联合国被美国排挤出中东和平进程以及在中东问题上的困境与出路 ,揭示了中东和平进程出现逆转的国际因素。     

非洲与联合国改革

长期以来,非洲在国际格局中一直处于边缘地带.但是随着近年来政治形势渐趋好转和经济的持续增长,非洲的国际处境也相应出现了改善.非洲对国际事务的作用及影响有所上升.尤其是在今年以来的联合国改革之争中,非洲的表现令人刮目.由于发展水平落后的牵制,非洲在国际上仍处于相对弱势地位."争常"对非洲既是机遇,也是挑战.目前,非洲正努力抓住机遇,以积极主动的姿态争取国际决策权.