UN overstretch: A German perspective

Abstract

The role of the UN in the emergent world order is a matter of considerable controversy. This article offers a perspective, reflecting research largely on German press and academic sources, of the danger of UN overstretch stemming from the interplay of new challenges, limited structural resources, high expectations and structural restraints. It is argued that the danger of overstretch is manageable if political discernment and realism prevail. The UN is needed in the world‐ordering business and there is perhaps a chance that the UN could evolve into a limited enforcement organization. But the exaggerated hopes for the world‐ordering functions of the UN, reflected in the German literature in the wake of the evaporation of east‐west confrontation, should be set against the UN's historical, structural, organizational, financial and cultural limits.