Synopses & Reviews
With updates throughout, this newly revised sixth edition serves as the definitive text for courses on the United Nations. Built around three critical themes in international relationsinternational peace and security, human rights and humanitarian affairs, and building peace through sustainable developmentThe United Nations and Changing World Politics guides readers through the complexity of politics and history of the UN. Students of all levels will learn what the UN is, how it operates, and what its relationships are with external actors and institutions, from sovereign states to nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations now playing important roles in world politics. Featuring a new chapter on evolving security operations and a new foreword by Ramesh Thakur, the sixth edition includes updated discussions of the UNs actions in Darfur and Chad, the tenure of Ban Ki-moon, and the global economic and financial meltdown.
Review
“With the latest edition of this widely used textbook, Weiss, Forsythe, Coate, and Pease continue the themes that have made the book so popular…a cogent introduction to theoretical debates and real-world problems… this book will engage students and general readers alike.” –
Choice Praise for Previous Editions “Since its first edition in the mid-1990s, this book has been the standard text on the UN for courses in international organization. No other book can compete with its sophisticated analysis and up-to-date information.” —Craig N. Murphy, Wellesley College
“[The authors] focus on the most important questions of international governance—human security, human rights, and sustainable development—and provide students with a wealth of information enabling them to make their own informed conclusions about the UN system’s contributions to answering them.” —M. J. Peterson, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
“Few stories are as complex, as misunderstood, or as urgent as that of the United Nations. No one tells it better than this dynamic author team. Already a classic, their text offers invaluable insights into how the world tries, fails, and tries again to govern itself.” —Edward Luck, Columbia University
“These civilized voices from the ‘other America’ have done it again! Taking as their principal themes peace and security, human rights and humanitarian issues, as well as sustainable human development, [the authors] guide us through the intricacies of politics at the UN in the form of an analytical narrative of global problems. This is not only for students and practitioners in the United States, but elsewhere, too, if we are to get an authentic and welcome voice of that ‘other America.’” —A.J.R. Groom, University of Kent
Synopsis
Provides a comprehensive examination of the United Nations by exploring its role in international peace and security, human rights and humanitarian affairs, and building peace through sustainable development.
About the Author
Thomas G. Weiss is Presidential Professor at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York where he is also one of the directors of the UN Intellectual History Project and one of the editors of
Global Governance.
David P. Forsythe is professor and chairman in the Department of Political Science at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Roger A. Coate is professor of government and international studies at the University of South Carolina.
Kelly-Kate Pease is associate professor and director of International Relations at Webster University in St. Louis. She is author of International Organizations: Perspectives on Governance in the 21st Century (2002) and has published several articles and book chapters on human rights, humanitarian intervention, humanitarian assistance, and foreign policy.