Synopses & Reviews
Will the United Nations survive the convulsions over the US-led attack on Iraq and its aftermath? How will it respond to the worldwide threat of terrorism? This book shows these crises as the latest chapter in the struggle for peace and stability. Its authoritative and discursive analysis of today's United Nations provides a clear and refreshing insight into what has gone wrong as well as what is right about the organization. While focusing on a post-Soviet world now firmly set in the turbulent twenty-first century, the book traces the genesis of the current major concerns facing the UN back to their origins during the infancy of the UN. It sets out a full yet concise account of UN security (peace-building) doctrine and action; of disarmament strategies (from weapons of mass destruction to small arms); of its criminal jurisdiction; of human rights issues; of globalization and poverty contradictions; and of UN financing worries. The book also explores how the UN works, or does not, and describes how the tension between the elite Security Council and all-inclusive General Assembly can frustrate decisive action.
Review
"In eloquent and effective language Newton Bowles has written a people's history of the United Nations, totally aware of its weaknesses, but a witness also to its extraordinary success in a turbulent world."--William J. Vanden Heuvel, former U.S. Ambassador with the UN
"This is a valuable account of the contemporary United Nations, from an unusual angle and with an emphasis not often apparent in books on international organization."--Sir Brian Urquhart, former Undersecretary General of the United Nations
"Newton Bowles has written an eminently readable survey of the United Nations as it operates today. The book is filled with the knowledge and insight of a man of good will who knows the United Nations from the inside...It is realistic in its assessment of problems that have plagued and often weakened the United Nations in pursuing the goals defined in its Charter."--Professor James Sutterlin, Yale University
"An excellent book, written with style and humanity. Bowles never allows himself to despair at the bast gap between what should and what is being done in the world."--Colin Archer, Secretary-GEneral of the International Peace Bureau
"Newton Bowles has drawn on his long and personal affiliation with the United Nations to bring to readers and objective and critical examination of the world body's strengths and weaknesses across the range of its many functions and activities. One gets the sense from this work that the UN is still very relevant today and will continue to be so for a long time in the future. Every student of politics should read this book and so should all lay persons who observe the UN from afar."--W. Andy Knight, Professor of International Relations, University of Alberta
About the Author
Newton Bowles is a Canadian diplomat who has been with the United Nations in many key capacities since 1945. He continues today as a senior advisor to UNICEF.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments * Foreword * Introduction * The Great Thaw? * Human Insecurity: Ten Years and More * Disarm: Life or Death? * Who Owns Terror? * No Hiding Place: War Criminals * Transnational Crime * Human Rights, Human Wrecks * Women: The Whole World in their Hands? * Children: The Future is Now * Humanitarian Rescue and On * People and Poverty * The World Around Us: The Environment * Nature's Terror: HIV/AIDS * 'We the Peoples', Civil Society * Mapping, Management, Money * The Millenium: he Year 2000 * Into Century Twenty-One * Yes, We Can * Abbreviations Explained * Bibliography * Endnotes * Sources * Terminology * References * Index