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The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations PDF

1116 Pages·2018·4.578 MB·English
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The Oxford Handbook on The United Nations: Second Edition The Oxford Handbook on The United Nations: Second Edition   The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations (2 ed.) Edited by Thomas G. Weiss and Sam Daws Print Publication Date: Jun 2018 Subject: Political Science Online Publication Date: Aug 2018 (p. iv) Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Oxford University Press 2018 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted First Edition published in 2007 Second Edition published in 2018 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Page 1 of 2 The Oxford Handbook on The United Nations: Second Edition Data available Library of Congress Control Number: 2018935443 ISBN 978–0–19–880316–4 Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work. Page 2 of 2 Dedication Dedication   The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations (2 ed.) Edited by Thomas G. Weiss and Sam Daws Print Publication Date: Jun 2018 Subject: Political Science Online Publication Date: Aug 2018 Dedication (p. v) Dedicated to Margaret Joan Anstee and Brian Urquhart —mentors, friends, col­ leagues, and UN pioneers (p. vi) Page 1 of 1 United Nations Nations Unies: By the Un Secretary-General United Nations Nations Unies: By the Un Secretary- General   The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations (2 ed.) Edited by Thomas G. Weiss and Sam Daws Print Publication Date: Jun 2018 Subject: Political Science Online Publication Date: Aug 2018 United Nations Nations Unies (p. vii) Foreword By the Un Secretary-General THE United Nations is the cornerstone of the international system and the institutional expression of multilateralism. In an era of global mega-trends and transnational threats, it is the essential instrument of Member States in seizing common opportunities, uphold­ ing universal values, and advancing peace and dignity for all. Recent decades have seen notable progress: the global economy has grown, standards of living have improved, and the proportion of people living in absolute poverty has fallen dramatically. At the same time, globalization and technological advances, while generat­ ing remarkable gains, have also contributed to widening inequalities. Conflicts have be­ come more complex, discrimination against women remains entrenched, and the impacts of climate change are cascading into a deepening menace. The United Nations has contributed to decades of relative peace and progress even as we know that too many people have yet to enjoy the fruits of progress, and that too many countries remain engulfed by violence and repression. As the world faces a new genera­ tion of challenges and frontier issues, the United Nations will continue to adapt while re­ maining guided by the principles and values proclaimed in the Charter, including equal Page 1 of 2 United Nations Nations Unies: By the Un Secretary-General rights, tolerance, and the peaceful resolution of disputes. We are also committed to mak­ ing prevention a priority by addressing root causes, cutting across all three pillars of our work: peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights. This Handbook illuminates the full scope of the Organization’s work through the contribu­ tions of leading analysts and scholars from every region of the world. While they offer dif­ fering perspectives, all agree on the indispensability of the United Nations as a unique in­ strument of service to all humankind. I commend this volume to a wide global audience as we strive together to deliver a better world for ‘we the peoples.’ António Guterres New York MARCH 2018 (p. viii) Page 2 of 2 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements   The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations (2 ed.) Edited by Thomas G. Weiss and Sam Daws Print Publication Date: Jun 2018 Subject: Political Science Online Publication Date: Aug 2018 Acknowledgements (p. ix) IN the more than seven decades since its establishment in 1945, the United Nations Or­ ganization and the system of universal agencies that form part of the UN system have been central to international relations. The first edition of The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations filled a long-standing gap in the small library of distinguished guides to the humanities, sciences, and social sciences published by Oxford University Press (OUP). For libraries and research depositories worldwide, this second edition once again pro­ vides one-stop shopping—to bring alive the historical, legal, political, and administrative details of the UN’s many roles, published as it approaches its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2020. Our task was to contextualize the world organization’s role in helping to realize interna­ tional achievements that, by the standards of previous centuries, have been unprecedent­ ed. Inevitably, the early hopes have wavered, especially when dashed by the bitter reali­ ties of international politics and conflicting economic interests. Even so, the vision and early ambitions have never been entirely lost—and the UN has continued to re-fashion its goals and objectives through the ups-and-downs of subsequent decades. We hope that we have captured the hopes and the despair, the triumphs and the tragedies, and especially what challenges remain as the world organization’s ninth Secretary-General, António Guterres, has begun his mandate. One of the more agreeable tasks in writing a book is thanking the people who helped along the way. We begin with our editor at OUP, Dominic Byatt, who was not bashful about asking the two of us the daunting assignment of assembling some half a million words covering almost seven decades of history of the present generation of universal in­ stitutions between two covers. His confidence was reassuring, his astute advice invalu­ able, and his warm support unwavering. We are grateful he twisted our arms. We would also like to express our gratitude to the OUP team who worked so efficiently with Do­ minic on this volume: Lizzie Suffling, Claire Croft, and Olivia Wells for their administra­ Page 1 of 3 Acknowledgements tive and organizational support, and Martin Noble for his willingness to take on such a substantial copyediting task and complete it with such care and thoroughness. The next round of appreciation goes to the fifty-one invited contributors whose analyses and prose grace these pages. When we initially agreed to edit the first edition of this Handbook in June 2004, the task seemed daunting. Taking into account the commercial limits of what was a feasible project, we outlined what we thought every reader should know about the world organization but might be afraid to ask. Using our respective multi­ national and multi-generational address books, along with those of colleagues, and searching our own bookshelves and those of libraries, we contacted what readers (p. x) will agree is a world-class team. They have all either written extensively on the topic of their essays or been active practitioners in a related field—indeed, the vast majority have done both. Clearly, this Handbook reflects that collective wisdom. The second edition’s commissioning in spring 2016 was hardly less challenging; but we are delighted that we managed to cajole previous contributors to join us once again, and then persuaded some new ones to address new and newly significant issues. It is no exaggeration to state that we could not have successfully completed a project of this magnitude and complexity without superb staff support. In the process of compiling the chapters, it suddenly dawned on us that we were actually trying to put together the equivalent of at least four edited books simultaneously. The lion’s share of the staff work for both editions was accomplished at the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Stud­ ies of The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. Several graduate students in particular should be singled out. We begin with Paul Celentano, who made room in his PhD studies not only to continue his career as a classical musician but also to help or­ chestrate and edit this second edition; we are truly grateful. He had a hard act to follow by his predecessors at the Graduate Center for the first edition: Ausama Abdelhadi, Ian Jones, Zeynep Turan, and Danielle Zach. Also for the first edition, Veronica Lie and Natal­ ie Samarasinghe at the United Nations Association of the United Kingdom brought their meticulous eyes to the project. Quite simply, that first edition and this current second edi­ tion would not have taken the shape that it did without all of this collective help. The chapters here are independent examinations of the pluses and the minuses of many aspects of the world organization. With few exceptions, the chapters have all changed substantially from the first edition; there are also several new chapters and new contribu­ tors. Readers should keep in mind what has not changed from the first edition: this is a hand­ book on and not of the United Nations. We speak for all the contributors in specifying that we as a group are critical multilateralists. These are the voices of professionals, who see the need for international cooperation to solve many challenges to human survival with dignity; but no one is a card-carrying member of the UN fan club. The editors and the au­ thors do not speak for the United Nations. The pages of this book represent our informed thinking, no more and (we hope) no less. Page 2 of 3 Acknowledgements To all who participated and contributed with such dedication and skill, ‘thanks’ is really a pale reflection of our gratitude. T.G.W and S.D. New York and Oxford MARCH 2018 Page 3 of 3 List of Tables List of Tables   The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations (2 ed.) Edited by Thomas G. Weiss and Sam Daws Print Publication Date: Jun 2018 Subject: Political Science Online Publication Date: Aug 2018 List of Tables (p. xvii) 6.1 Shifts in regional balance within the General Assembly, 1945–2015 128 8.1 Main Subsidiary Bodies of ECOSOC 167 13.1 Rates of assessment for selected countries 255 13.2 Step-by-step adjustments in UN assessment for selected countries 261 13.3 UN peacekeeping and regular assessments for selected countries 263 15.1 Trade negotiation ‘rounds’ under the GATT and WTO 300 15.2 WTO ministerial conferences 300 16.1 Regional involvement in UN peace operations 321 17.1 Examples of UN informal groups 337 30.1 The core international human rights instruments 546 30.2 Special rapporteurs, independent experts, and working groups (‘special proce­ dures’) by country and by theme, June 2017 557 42.1 Sustainable Development Goals 766 (p. xviii) Page 1 of 1

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