The United Nations : a very short introduction
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The United Nations : a very short introduction
（Very short introductions, 199）
Oxford University Press, c2008
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 156-161) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The United Nations has been called everything from "the best hope of mankind" to "irrelevant" and "obsolete." With this much-needed introduction to the UN, Jussi Hanhimaki engages the current debate over the organizations effectiveness as he provides a clear understanding of how it was originally conceived, how it has come to its present form, and how it must confront new challenges in a rapidly changing world. After a brief history of the United Nations and its predecessor, the League of Nations, the author examines the UN's successes and failures as a guardian of international peace and security, as a promoter of human rights, as a protector of international law, and as an engineer of socio-economic development. Hanhimaki stresses that the UN's greatest problem has been the impossibly wide gap between its ambitions and capabilities. In the area of international security, for instance, the UN has to settle conflicts-be they between or within states-without offending the national sovereignty of its member states, and without being sidelined by strong countries, as happened in the 2003 intervention of Iraq.
Hanhimaki also provides a clear accounting of the UN and its various arms and organizations (such as UNESCO and UNICEF), and he offers a critical overview of how effective it has been in the recent crises in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, for example-and how likely it is to meet its overall goals in the future. The United Nations, Hanhimaki concludes, is an indispensable organization that has made the world a better place. But it is also a deeply flawed institution, in need of constant reform. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Table of Contents
List of illustrations ix
Acknowledgments x
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: The best hope of mankind?: A brief history of the UN 8
Chapter 2: An impossible hybrid: The structure of the United Nations 26
Chapter 3: Facing wars, confronting threats: The U.N. Security Council in action 50
Chapter 4: Peacekeeping to peacebuilding 71
Chapter 5: Economic development to human development 91
Chapter 6: Rights and responsibilities: human rights to human security 111
Chapter 7: Reforms and challenges: the future of the United Nations 135
Chronology 149
Glossary: acronyms of major UN organs and agencies used in the text 154
References 156
Further reading 158
Index 162
by "Nielsen BookData"
