UN Activities Research Articles

The Gender Gap in Attitudes toward the Gulf War: A Cross-National Perspective

Using data from a survey in a number of world cities before the outbreak of hostilities in the Persian Gulf, we explore the sources and magnitude of the gender gap in support for military action. In most cities there are only modest gender differences in the interpretation of events, in affect toward the major actors, and in support for the goals of the UN actions, but women are less supportive of military action than men in nearly all cities. These differences are statistically significant but substantively modest, with men and women differing primarily in the degree of their enthusiasm for the military action. In Lagos and Ankara, however, there are no gender differences.

The United Nations, conflict management and spheres of interest

The initial promise of the UN being able to manage conflicts with the ending of the Cold War has faded. Historically, the ability of the UN to act has been strongly influenced by the interests of its member states, especially the major powers, and a number of factors, such as threat, type of response, limitations on UN action, and degeneration of a situation, have affected the ability of the UN to respond and respond successfully. These and other factors can be organized to define a ‘window of opportunity’ for successful UN action. The ‘window’ concept suggests that in the current era, where most conflicts have little impact on the wider international system, the major powers are likely to be motivated only to manage those conflicts which affect their interests. This will have significant implications for the UN as a conflict manager. Terry Terriff is Lecturer in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. James Keeley is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary, Canada.

FREEDOM FOR THE SEAS IN THE 21ST CENTURY : OCEAN GOVERNANCE

Review by Graham Charles Environmental Educator and Freelance Writer, 306-B Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA. TEL: Jon M. Van Dyke, Durwoord Zaleke, and Grant Harrison, eds., FREEDOM FOR THE SEAS IN THE 21ST CENTURY : OCEAN GOVERNANCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL HARMONY. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1993. 504 pp. US$27.50 paper ISBN: 1-55963-242-9. Recycled, acid-free paper. Rarely can irony be expressed by a mere preposition, but that is what the editors of FREEDOM FOR THE SEAS have done in recasting the centuries-old phrase freedom of the seas. The right of nations to exploit the high seas was already firmly seated in Western thought when Hugh Grotius published MARE LIBERUM in the 17th century. Three hundred years later, the principles of mass-production applied to ocean harvest have proved the world's oceans to be finite. Fish stocks are on the decline, and several species have been reduced to commercial extinction. Moreover, the lobbying power of an ever more desperate fishing industry continues to threaten what national protection laws still exist. The problems of the high seas require more than national action, and it was in this spirit in 1990 that Greenpeace and three international peace institutes convened an ocean governance conference in Hawaii. The papers delivered at this meeting, collected in FREEDOM FOR THE SEAS, concern the legal aspects of open-ocean law. To some extent, this collection of papers presents scientific evidence of the threat to our oceans (Jackson Davis's excellent analysis of UNEP ocean pollution data is an example), but science was clearly not the focus of the meeting. The real focus of the 1990 meeting, legal and political issues, is reflected in its paper topics, which include: ocean governance (distant and recent history), factory fishing and drift nets, deep seabed mining, the status of island nations and indigenous peoples, and, finally, military activities. It is interesting to note that among the key speakers at the meeting was Arvid Pardo. Pardo's address to the United Nations in 1967 helped spark the movement that would become the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. Many of the writers in FREEDOM FOR THE SEAS cite this UN convention. Because a number of industrialized nations have refused to support the convention's article on deep seabed mining, ratification has been stalled.(Some provisions of the original convention have been included in other UN actions, such as the fisheries resolution passed this summer.) Even ungratified, the 1982 convention serves as a legal backbone for most efforts, in Pardo's words, to establish a new legal order governing ocean space as a whole (39). The most unusual and enlightening chapters in the book are those which express the viewpoints of indigenous peoples. Maori lawyer Moana Jackson delivers an exposition on the indigenous Pacific philosophy that the sea is not a resource, but a responsibility. (He also contributes the preface to FREEDOM FOR THE SEAS.) Poka Laenui (Hayden Burgess) expands on that theme in his commentary on the Hawaiian creation myth. He contrasts the Western view of the oceans as a resource with the Hawaiian Ke Kumu, that the ocean is the source of all life (94).

UN REFORM: FOCUS FOR ACTION

SUMMARY Judged by the perspectives of 50 years, the UN system has had more influence and more successes than is often realized, especially in the economic and social arena. Priorities for future UN action in these areas have largely been set by the series of summits and other high level global conferences held over the last five years. These priorities should now be made a focus for country‐by‐country action, with the different UN agencies and organizations providing support. This would help provide practical guidelines for reform and a means for strengthening UN relevance, coordination and cost effectiveness in the economic and social sphere. This article illustrates this approach in relation to the goal of achieving major reductions in the worst aspects of global poverty during the next ten years, the goal made central by the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen.

Beyond financing: Giving the United Nations power of the purse

The present financial constraint on UN activities is primarily of a developmental—rather than strategic, geopolitical—nature. It stems from such factors as: the blurring of the dichotomy between North and South; caution about intergovernmental cooperation which might reduce national sovereignty; and hesitation to accept the need for a fundamentally new development paradigm. Yet, strengthening of the UN is at the same time one of the critical conditions required for the international community effectively to address the growing problems of global poverty, socioeconomic inequity and environmental degradation. It is, therefore, imperative urgently to find a way out of the present political stalemate surrounding the UN's role. The present article suggests two possible steps forward: 1. (1) to shift the burden of financing the UN from national to global sources—by introducing charges for the use of global commons or levies on international activities such as trade and foreign currency transactions; 2. (2) to strengthen the UN's capacity to harmonize global policy priorities with global spending priorities—by creating under the UN's umbrella, an integrated international cooperation fund and an executive committee for ECOSOC.

Collapsed States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority

This work uses 11 African case studies in its exploration of the phenomenon of collapsed states. The writers consider the causes of collapse; symptoms and early warning signs; and how the situation was met. They also assess the strengths and weaknesses of various responses, such as UN action.

Reviews

Abstract Justice and the Genesis of War by David A. Welch Cambridge, NY., Cambridge University Press, 1993, 335pp. Renegade States: The Evolution of Revolutionary Foreign Policy edited by Stephen Chan and Andrew J.Williams Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1994, 202pp. Brave Modern World. The Prospects for Survival by Jean Chesneaux London, Thames and Hudson, 1992, 91pp. Keeping the Peace: The United Nations and the Maintenance of Peace and Security by N.D. White Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1993. 267pp. Aftermath of the Gulf War: An Assessment of UN Action by Ian Johnstone Boulder, CO., Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1994. 84pp.

United Nations Reform: Looking Ahead after Fifty Years

Edward C. Luck, President Emeritus, Senior Policy Advisor, United Nations Association of the United States of America This book is important reading for anyone interested in the future of the UN. It contains hundreds of reform ideas, most of them sound, all of them stimulating. The diversity of views and subjects reflects the breadth of the UN's global agenda and the exemplary contributions Canadians have made to the world body. Many of Canada's UN experts are represented here; their work will remind us to look for inspiration and perspective when the going gets tough at Turtle Bay! Major-General (Ret'd) Lewis W. MacKenzie, First Commander; UN Forces, Sarajevo The 50th Anniversary of the United Nations -- a wake or a cause for celebration? The euphoria following the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco in 1945 soon fell victim to a 45-year Cold War. Now, when the oppressed and destitute of the world need it more than ever, the UN finds itself handcuffed by potentially terminal systemic deficiencies. Tinkering won't do - major reforms are required and the plethora of relevant ideas and recommendations set forth in this book provide leaders, policy makers and interested observers with much food for thought. Joe Sills, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, United Nations This valuable collection of essays covers a broad range of UN activities. In addition to careful analysis, it offers many suggestions for strengthening the UN as it enters its second half-century. Brian Urquhart, Former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Scholar-in-Residence, International Affairs Program, Ford Foundation This festschrift for the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations is really something to rejoice about -- a stimulating, readable and comprehensive set of comments on where the world organization is, how it got there and where it ought to be going. A breath of fresh air -- oxygen even -- for the UN on its 50th birthday. Major-General Indarjit Rikhye, Founding President, international Peace Academy and former Military Advisor to UN Secretary-Generals Dag Hammarskjold and U Thant The opportunity provided by the end of the Cold War to achieve the great objectives of the UN Charter must not be missed through failures in Somalia, Bosnia and Rwanda. The contributors to this book, with their thoughtful papers and recommendations for reform, encourage belief in the possibility of reinvigoration of the UN, so that the hopes placed in the organization in 1945 might after all be fulfilled. Benjamin Rivlin, Director, Ralph Bunche Institute on the UN This book presents an honest and sober reply to the mindless critics of the United Nations who have made multilateralism the whipping boy of their own short-sightedness. Mindful of the UN's shortcomings, this excellent collection of essays, based on careful analysis, points out clearly nevertheless the direction the organized world must take and the indispensable role the United Nations must play in shaping a just and peaceful future for humanity.

Conflict Prevention in Europe

The establishment in 1993 of a Nordic-dominated United Nations Protection Force in the troubled Republic of Macedonia was seen as the first example of a UN conflict prevention force. The Nordic battalion in Macedonia is placed here in the context of UN action in former Yugoslavia, as well as wider UN operations, and is also seen as a continuation of Nordic contributions to peace-keeping. However, another element is examined: it seems the operation fits into a particular liberal-institutionalist view of European security, espoused by Nordic leaders, that values conflict prevention action. This liberalinstitutionalist view is outlined, and a possible link with the Macedonian operation suggested. Despite the Nordic action, the future of Macedonia is scarcely assured.

Sanctions by the United Nations Security Council and the European Community

The demise of monolithic Communist rale in Central and Eastern Europe, and the consequent collapse of the East-West conflict dramatically strengthened the system of collective security established by the United Nations. The most remarkable example of successful UN action in this field was the economic sanctions imposed against Iraq in response to the invasion of Kuwait Various Security Council resolutions were rapidly passed under the Chapter VH procedure, and in most cases with unanimous support from Security Council members. Further measures aimed at applying economic coercion were adopted in international crises involving Libya and Yugoslavia.

Too many cooks? The post-Rio reform of the United Nations

The UN Conference on Environment and Development at Rio agreed to the creation of a new organ within the UN to coordinate the implementation of sustainable development policies. The Sustainable Development Commission represents a surprising achievement in view of the generally critical attitudes of some among the Group of Seven to creating new organs within the UN system. The UN Environmental Programme, cited for an expansion of its role has, over the 20 years of its existence, established a good reputation for pioneering small-scale catalytic programmes. It has also been unfairly burdened with nominal obligations to coordinate other UN activities in the field. However, the post-Rio future raises both problems and opportunities for UNEP. An expansion of UNEP may raise asset-stripping possibilities as well as strain donor confidence as the programme enlarges.

Behind the disappearances: Argentina's dirty war against human rights and the United Nations

Drawing on confidential Argentinian documents and memoranda, Behind the Disappearances documents a seven-year diplomatic war by one of the twentieth century's most brutal regimes. It relates how, starting in 1976, Argentina's military government tried to cripple the UN's human rights machinery in an effort to prevent international condemnation of its policy of disappearances. Initially this attempt succeeded, but in 1980-with encouragement from the Carter administration-UN officials regained the initiative and created a special working group on disappearances that rejuvenated the UN's efforts. This progress was abruptly halted in 1981 when the Reagan administration sided with the Argentinian regime. The result, claims the author, not only undercut the UN's actions against disappearances but also weakened its chances of playing a positive role in aiding Latin America's transition from dictatorship to democracy.

Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in UN Activities for Peace and Disarmament

Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in UN Activities for Peace and Disarmament

United Nations' Role in South Africa: Constraints and Possible Options

The principle of the elimination of racism and racial discrimination, of which apartheid is an institutionalised form, has become one of the cornerstones of the international community's concerns. As the community's watchdog, the United Nations has accorded, a high priority to this principle. Article 56 of the United Nations Charter stipulates thatbn ‘all members pledge themselves to take joint action in cooperation with the Organisation for the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55’, which includes ‘universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.’ Equally, the concern of the international community has been evident in the progressive evolution of the General Assembly's recommendations, resolutions and decisions, of the relevant international instruments, of its policy of sanctions, albeit by no means satisfactory, and the prominence this principle receives in various UN organs and activities, in particular the programmes undertaken under the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination. However, the supportive role of the United Nations in the struggle being waged against apartheid within South Africa and Namibia, highly commendable though it is, has unfortunately been considerably weakened by the lack of consensus in dealing with systematic violations of international norms by the Pretoria regime for the maintenance of apartheid, as well as over the strategies to be adopted to resist this unjust and oppressive system. In the specific context of the present structure of the United Nations, particularly the powers given to the Security Council, these divergencies are found to be major constraints as they have the inevitable impact of impeding enforcement measures. As a consequence today, the continuing gulf between international law and reality threatens the very credibility of the world organisation especially as far as its human rights policies with regard to South Africa are concerned. The struggle within the United Nations system against apartheid, inevitably slow moving, nonetheless continues as can be seen from the evolution of measures taken. It will also be seen that the world body, undeterred by persistent disagreements over principle, its interpretation and enforcement, continues to explore possible options in shaping policies to be able to deal more effectively with the scourge of apartheid and thereby strengthen the ethical foundations of the international community and a civilised system of peaceful coexistence. The situation, therefore, though highly complicated, is not entirely hopeless. On the contrary there is room for optimism that meaningful consequences will emerge from these efforts of the United Nations to eliminate apartheid as well as to bring about a qualitative change in and protection of a whole range of human rights.

The UN Dimension Revisited: A Critique and Reassessment of Wilkenfeld and Brecher

Wilkenfeld and Brecher (1984: 50, 52) investigate two general hypotheses regarding the circumstances and the consequences of UN activity in international crises: (a) the greater the seriousness of crises, the greater the extent of activity; (b) the greater the extent of the activity, the more satisfactory are certain outcomes. The authors test their hypotheses by cross-tabulating their measure of UN activity with indicators of crisis seriousness (severity) and crisis outcome. They then calculate a X2 statistic for each cross-tabulation. This statistic, however, indicates only that there is some general unspecified relationship in a sample-a point acknowledged by Wilkenfeld and Brecher (1984: 66)-and not that a directional relationship exists. Statistics such as Guttman's lambda for nominal data or Somers' d for ordinal data would have been more appropriate. Wilkenfeld and Brecher (1984: 56-58) then conduct post hoc tests of their hypotheses by seeing if, for instance, the plurality of cases of high-level UN activity coincide with the most severe forms of violence. The authors implicitly test a priori predictions derived from their hypotheses. Simply looking at the conditional probabilities of activity for each level of the indicators of seriousness is inadequate because it does not guard against the natural null hypothesis of a disproportionately large number of cases in the cells of no activity or low-level activity with high severity. Consider, by way of example, the authors' (1984: 56) claim that the statistic of 47 per cent of the cases of preeminent violence leading to high-level activity 'proves' hypothesis (a). They do not account for the 53 percent of the cases of preeminent violence that lead to no activity or low-level activity. The authors cannot show that preeminent violence, no violence or low-level activity can be safely excluded from consideration; they do not show that their prediction error is tolerably low. Thus, Wilkenfeld and Brecher do not truly test their hypotheses. A proper test must take into account that their predictions are made a priori and must also account for prediction error. Prediction logic (Hildebrand et al., 1977) fulfills these requirements.

International Crises, 1945-1975: The UN Dimension

This study focuses on the record of UN involvement in international crises during the 1945–1975 period. It is guided by two general research questions: (1) what is the relationship between the attributes of international crises and the extent, substance, substance, and effectiveness of UN activity; and (2) under what conditions is UN intervention in international crises likely to lead to favorable outcomes. Data on 160 crises are drawn from the International Crisis Behavior Project data set. In general, we find that while the UN intervened in only 59% of all crises, its rate of intervention in serious crises (crises with violent triggers, grave threat, violent crisis management techniques, and large numbers of participants) was considerably higher. The UN was most effective in crisis abatement in crises involving full scale war. Crises with UN intervention were more likely than others to terminate in some form of agreement among the parties.

The alleged demise of political human rights at the UN: a reply to Donnelly

In a recent article this journal Jack Donnelly sets out to describe and analyze recent trends human activities of United Nations. 1 Since its publication, his analysis has been cited with approval by a number of commentators including, for example, Louis Sohn, Professor of International Law emeritus at Harvard University, and conservative thinktank, Heritage Foundation.2 Donnelly argues that, recent years, orientation of UN's human has shifted dramatically to a situation which issues relating to economic, social, and cultural become sum and substance of UN's human program (p. 635). The result is said to have been the elimination of civil and political from serious international consideration, absorption of human concerns into economic and development issues, and enshrinement of this particular politicized conception of human rights (p. 653). His conclusion is that in field of human rights, UN has found its voiceand that voice is not only limited range, but shrill, and quite (p. 655). The situation would indeed be disturbing if it even vaguely resembled bleak picture painted by Donnelly. The reality, however, is far from distorted and inaccurate snapshot that he presents. The purpose of this reply is not to present an alternative assessment of recent UN activity field of human nor is it to debate substantive merits of General Assembly resolution 32/130, to which a large part of article question is devoted.

Human Rights - the Property of the Nation State or a Concern for the International Community? A Study of the Soviet Positions Concerning UN Protection of Civil and Political Rights since 1975

Bergesen, H. O. Human Rights - the Property of the Nation State or a Concern for the International Community? A Study of the Soviet Positions Concerning UN Protection of Civil and Political Rights since 1975. Cooperation and Conflict, XIV, 1979, 239-254. The paper analyzes Soviet policy - in general and in concrete cases - as regards the role of UN bodies in the protection of civil and political human rights. The empirical analysis shows that the main Soviet concern is to hinder any development in the direction of independent UN investigations into violations of human rights in specific countries and subsequent UN action to restore respect for those rights. However, the USSR is not opposed to UN bodies expressing their opinion about the human rights situation in specific countries, since resolutions do not unleash an unpredictable machinery of impartial fact-finding. The USSR clearly considers civil and political rights a state property. International organizations, like UN bodies, do not even have the right to inquire into a state's dealings with this property.

Restructuring the United Nations system: institutional reform efforts in the context of North-South relations

Since 1975, the United Nations has undertaken major deliberations to consider institutional reform of the UN system. Such restructuring activities have sprung from widespread dissatisfaction with the United Nations' capacity to deal with problems of economic development and relations between industrialized and developing countries. UN reform efforts have focused on two broad areas: reshaping the deliberative and policy-making operations of central UN institutions in order to reach more coherent global policies on international economic and social affairs; and reorganizing the planning, coordination, and implementation of UN programs to achieve these policy goals more effectively. In 1977, the General Assembly adopted the report of an intergovernmental Ad Hoc Committee, which provided detailed guidelines for prospective UN restructuring, and assigned its recommendations to relevant units within the UN system for the purpose of implementing these reforms. Major themes emphasized in these guidelines include an increased centralization and integration of the UN system in dealing with international economic and social affairs and improved efficiency and coordination of UN operations and activities in these areas. Fundamental to the course of UN restructuring deliberations—and to the extent and significance of eventual institutional reforms—has been the linkage between UN reorganization and the disposition of substantive North-South issues, as the restructuring exercise remains tied to the pace and direction of negotiations concerning “a new international economic order.”

Indonesia´s Annexation of East Timor: Political, Administrative, and Developmental Initiatives

The annexation of East Timor by Indonesia was completed in its broad outlines during 1976. The new relationship was legally formalized to Indonesian satisfaction on 17 July when President Suharto signed a bill designating East Timor as Indonesia's twenty-seventh province. Subsequent decrees transformed the Provisional Govern ment into a provincial government and restructured the administrative system of the new province along Indonesian lines. The Timorese Popular Democratic Association (Apodeti) Party leader Arnaldo dos Reis Araujo was appointed as the first governor. Observers outside Indonesia charged that the annexation was accomplished by the weight of Indonesian arms with no opportunity for the East Timorese people to express their wishes m an act of self-determination. Indonesian and pro Indonesian East Timorese spokesmen replied that the East Timorese people had expressed themselves adequately through the four-party Anti-Communist Movement, the Provisional Territorial Assembly of East Timor, and several con sultations with Indonesian fact-finding missions. Collectively, these spokesmen argued, these expressions constituted an act of self-determination and rendered a United Nations supervized referendum superfluous. A majority of UN members voted otherwise in meetings of the General Assembly's Fourth Committee on Trusteeship and Non-Self-Governing Territories, the Special Committee on Decolonization, the General Assembly's 2,439th Plenary Session, and the Security Council. Each of these meetings passed resolutions urging Indonesia to withdraw its troops from East Timor and to assist in the carrying out of a UN supervized act of self-determination. However, no UN action was taken to reverse the fait accompli and no referendum was held. Meanwhile the Indo?esian authorities proceeded with the details of integrating the former Portuguese colony with the political, administrative, and economic patterns pre vailing m the rest of the Republic.