Overview

Seven decades after its establishment, the United Nations and its system of related organizations and programs are perpetually in crisis. While the twentieth-century’s world wars gave rise to ground-breaking efforts at international organization in 1919 and 1945, today’s UN is ill-equipped to deal with contemporary challenges to world order. Neither the end of the Cold War nor the aftermath of 9/11 has led to the “next generation” of multilateral institutions. But what exactly is wrong with the UN that makes it incapable of confronting contemporary global challenges and, more importantly, can we fix it? In this revised and updated third edition of his popular text, leading scholar of global governance Thomas G. Weiss takes a diagnose-and-cure approach to the world organization’s inherent difficulties. In the first half of the book, he considers: the problems of international leadership and decision making in a world of self-interested states; the diplomatic complications caused by the artificial divisions between the industrialized North and the global South; the structural problems of managing the UN’s many overlapping jurisdictions, agencies, and bodies; and the challenges of bureaucracy and leadership.  The second half shows how to mitigate these maladies and points the way to a world in which the UN’s institutional ills might be “cured.”  Weiss’s remedies are not based on pious hopes of a miracle cure for the UN, but rather on specific and encouraging examples that could be replicated. With considered optimism and in contrast to received wisdom, he contends that substantial change is both plausible and possible.

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9781509507436

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Reviews

By far the most readable and imaginative recent book I have seen on what can easily be a dull subject. Weiss writes with insight and humor, and is undeterred by current taboos. New York Review of Books Unafraid to diagnose and excoriate myriad flaws, he offers an unflinching analysis which simultaneously exudes a palpable passion for the organisation and a belief in both its capacity to change and its potential efficacy. Both his diagnosis and his prescriptions are compelling. Millennium: Journal of International Studies Weiss, as a long standing observer of the politics of the UN, is in a formidable position to cast a critical eye over the problems facing the contemporary operation of the UN and offer some practical suggestions as to how these problems can be overcome. Australian Journal of Political Science A well argued and clearly written work that deserves to be widely read, especially in an era when trust and support for the UN remain quite low. International Affairs Very few actually know how the (UN) system works, how profound its crisis is, and what fundamental change is needed. Among those who do know is Thomas G. Weiss. Ethics and International Affairs A comprehensive and extremely thoughtful analysis by the leading scholar of the UN in the United States, this should be required reading for the new US president, and the leaders of other nations as well. Craig Murphy, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Wellesley College By any standard, this is a work of unusual ambition, scope, and insight. Only Tom Weiss, one of the UN's most prolific and experienced observers, could so adroitly capture the world body's perils and promise with such a winning combination of clarity, rigor, and wisdom. Edward Luck, Columbia University This is a very timely book, given the broad spectrum of growing difficulties facing the international system and the United Nations. It provides an analytically powerful and empirically rich account of a UN in crisis, followed by a range of sensible suggestions to place the world organization on a more sound footing in its address of deepening challenges. It speaks to issues of profound scholarly and policy relevance in a way that is eminently accessible to a wide range of readers. Neil MacFarlane, St Anne's College, Oxford

An indispensable guide for understanding both the pathology and the promise of the United Nations: love for the UN doesn't come any tougher. Tom Weiss has been a keen observer and sophisticated analyst of the UN system for decades whose deep expertise is put to good use in this seminal contribution to diagnosing what ails the world organization and prescribing the appropriate remedies. Ramesh Thakur, The Australian National University, former UN Assistant Secretary-General and Editor-in-Chief, Global Governance The third edition of this comprehensive and extremely thoughtful analysis by the leading scholar of the UN in the United States should be on the required reading list for the US president, and the leaders of other nations as well. Craig N. Murphy, Wellesley College and University of Massachusetts Boston

An indispensable guide for understanding both the pathology and the promise of the United Nations: love for the UN doesnAt come any tougher. Tom Weiss has been a keen observer and sophisticated analyst of the UN system for decades whose deep expertise is put to good use in this seminal contribution to diagnosing what ails the world organization and prescribing the appropriate remedies. Ramesh Thakur, The Australian National University, former UN Assistant Secretary-General and Editor-in-Chief, Global Governance The third edition of this comprehensive and extremely thoughtful analysis by the leading scholar of the UN in the United States should be on the required reading list for the US president, and the leaders of other nations as well. Craig N. Murphy, Wellesley College and University of Massachusetts Boston

An indispensable guide for understanding both the pathology and the promise of the United Nations: love for the UN doesnt come any tougher. Tom Weiss has been a keen observer and sophisticated analyst of the UN system for decades whose deep expertise is put to good use in this seminal contribution to diagnosing what ails the world organization and prescribing the appropriate remedies. Ramesh Thakur, The Australian National University, former UN Assistant Secretary-General and Editor-in-Chief, Global Governance The third edition of this comprehensive and extremely thoughtful analysis by the leading scholar of the UN in the United States should be on the required reading list for the US president, and the leaders of other nations as well. Craig N. Murphy, Wellesley College and University of Massachusetts Boston

Author Information

Thomas G. Weiss is Presidential Professor at the City University of New York�s Graduate Center and Director of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies.

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