International convention against the taking of hostages

Anthony H. Cordesman. After the Storm: The Changing Military Balance in the Middle East (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993). 811 pp. $68.50.

Tore Bjoergo and Rob Witte, eds. Racist Violence in Europe (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993).

Hugh Smith and Anthony Bergin, eds. Naval Power in the Pacific: Toward the Year 2000 (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1993), 186 + xiii pp. $35.00.

Max G. Manwaring, ed., Gray Area Phenomena: Confronting the New World Disorder (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993). 198 pp. $19.95.

Samuel M. Makinda. Seeking Peace from Chaos: Humanitarian Intervention in Somalia (Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner, 1993).     

论欧盟在联合国中的地位和作用

自20世纪50年代开始的欧洲一体化不仅仅是一个以欧洲大陆为地域范围,对内不断深化和扩展经济与社会整合的进程,也同时是欧洲面向国际社会时独立地位不断加强,影响力不断提升的过程.     

The United Nations decade of international law

This articles is written in a personal capacity and should not be attributed in any way to the ICAO Secretariat or the United Nations.     

The Question of Palestine and United States Behavior at the United Nations

This article examines United States behavior at the United Nations regarding the Question of Palestine, with focus on the US-Israel relationship and US voting pattern. What is found is an overwhelming voting coincidence between the US and Israel in the UN General Assembly or a US liberal use of the veto in the UN Security Council in support of Israel. The strong bond between both countries, brought about by common interests and practical US realities, has created an impasse on the Question of Palestine at the UN. All concerned must realize that membership in the UN necessitates upholding the UN Charter and moving beyond national idiosyncrasies and short-term advantages in order to achieve stability and peace with justice for all.     

Innovation spaces: lessons from the United Nations

This paper explores the notion of ‘innovation spaces’ within the UN system, as physical and virtual laboratories for innovation. Using empirical research in a range of innovation labs the authors explore four key questions: what form UN innovation labs have taken, what has motivated their creation, what their aims and objectives are, and what impact they are having. The answers to these questions promote reflection on the future of innovation spaces, particularly an analysis of whether a model of ‘siloed’ innovation spaces will survive in the humanitarian system. The paper demonstrates the important role that innovation labs play in the UN system, as well as grappling with the challenges they face.     

Sovereign immunity and international organization: The case of DeLuca v. the United Nations

Conclusion DeLuca v. the United Nations has brought many unanswered questions to the American and international public regarding the immunity of the United Nations and the consequences such a policy has had on that organization over the last fifty years. By diplomatic tradition, immunity has been very important to the United Nations in maintaining its freedom of action, as called for in Articles 104 and 105 of the United Nations Charter. Through immunity, the United Nations has escaped the fate of the former League of Nations and has become an organization which has contributed tremendously to the solving of the world's many political, economic and social problems.Yet, immunity has also cloaked and protected the United Nations from its own internal administrative weaknesses and abuses. Accountability has become harder to obtain from the UN bureaucracy due to this immunity. Simultaneously, for the American legal system, immunity has become somewhat analogous to the previous difficulties of piercing the corporate veil, namely attempting to redress the wrongs by preserving the legal rights of individuals through the effective use of the judicial system.Should the world continue to grant immunity to actions which can be classified as suspect or being with improper motive or bad faith by the United Nations or any other international organization? Will the United Nations ultimately be above the law? Only future actions by the UN General Assembly, national legislatures such as the United States Congress or cases likeDeLuca v. the United Nations will determine the final answer.     

Engendering world conferences: the international women's movement and the United Nations

This article gives a brief history of how women's groups internationally have shaped UN and World Conferences for Women, the changes in the relationship between women's nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the UN over time, and effective strategies for putting the women's agenda on international agendas. The article focuses on three recent UN conferences: the Rio conference on the environment, the Vienna conference on human rights, and the Cairo conference on population. The UN Decade for Women reshaped the international women's movement by including new players and by increasing the number and types of women's groups, particularly in developing countries. Women's NGOs learned how to operate on a global scale and to gain attention. New NGO alliances and networks were formed that were cross-regional and crossed North-South divisions. An increasing number of women's groups contributed to national and international policy-making situations. Women's groups were successful in receiving international and national recognition because of the effort expended to become well prepared in collecting, knowing, and analyzing their facts and in building broad-based coalitions. The key strategies that were used in participating effectively in the conference preparatory process and formal policy-making groups involved five types of activities: 1) NGOs mounted global campaigns on a variety of issues having to do with women's rights and women's involvement in the process; 2) NGOs held multiple strategic planning meetings and built coalitions and consensus at all levels; 3) women's NGOs drafted policy documents, resolutions, treaties, protocols, conventions, and platform documents; 4) women's NGOs gained seating on official delegations by publishing reports, holding meetings, and lobbying and nominating women as representatives; and 5) women's NGOs formed caucuses that met at a daily time and place for holding dialogues with official delegates and policy-makers.     

三座举世瞩目的"联合国城"

联合国原为第二次世界大战期间联合反对轴心国德、意、日的名称,后来被采用作为战后建立的世界组织的名称.1945年4月25日,在美国的旧金山举行了"联合国国际组织会议".会议以世界4个大国--美国、英国、苏联、中国的代表于1944年8-10月在敦巴顿橡树园拟订的建议为基础进行讨论,并起草了<联合国宪章>.<联合国宪章>于1945年6月26日签署,同年10月24日正式生效.宪章规定以英文、法文、西班牙文、俄文和中文为联合国正式语文,并将10月24日定为联合国日.     

Sponsorship behaviour of the BRICS in the United Nations General Assembly

The formation of informal groupings of states is a manifestation of the global shift in economic power. One such a grouping is the BRICS, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which stands out for its importance due to its economic weight, its coverage across continents and the numerous internal differences. The BRICS have collectively flexed their muscle and expressed their intentions to extend their cooperation at the United Nations (UN). Proposals in the United Nations General Assembly (UN GA) take the form of resolutions, which can be written and co-written by the UN member states. This so-called sponsoring of resolutions is a way to push agenda items forward. Using a large-N network analysis, we examine the patterns of co-sponsorship of the BRICS of resolutions adopted in the UN GA plenary sessions. We find that the BRICS cooperate on fields such as economic issues, however, they do not form a coherent bloc when it comes to resolution sponsorship. These results raise the question in what way the BRICS actually cooperate at the UN level.     

联合国改革需要大智慧

联合国已步入60华诞.60年前建立的这个组织,是17世纪中叶主权国家出现以来人类倾向于摆脱"无政府状态",建立普遍性的、有约束力的国际政治组织的一个标识.人类对和平与安全的向往促成的联合国组织,是在惨烈的二战结束兼具历史大机遇及盟国领袖大智慧的条件下实现的.今天联合国已囊括190多个成员.联合国60年历程有辉煌也有挫折,因此改革的必要性和紧迫性不言自明.     

A representative bureaucracy perspective on workforce composition in international organizations: The case of the United Nations Secretariat

This article provides a representative bureaucracy perspective on staff composition in international organizations (IOs). Contrary to previous studies in international relations, I argue that staff composition is not only driven by power but international organizations are also concerned with bureaucratic representation. Therefore, I examine one potential barrier and one driver to passive representation, namely the available local labour pool and political representation. The empirical analysis is based on an original database of human resources statistics in the United Nations Secretariat which allows for a differentiation between staff categories. The resulting regression analyses suggest that headquarters locations, political representation and diplomacy are the main determinants of member states’ representation, but these determinants vary in strength depending on the staff categories. This article contributes to the study of staff composition in IOs by examining additional determinants and to the recent discussions on representative bureaucracy at the international level.