WORLD AFFAIRS

THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE FUTURE

Introduced by Joe Wiles, Chairman of the Bath Branch of the United Nations Association, on 20 November 1998

After remarking that the UN gets press
attention only when crises occur, the speaker addressed common criticisms. If the UN ‘fails to stop wars’ it is because we fail to make it effective; there are many interests involved. Its ‘bureaucracy’, developed by member governments’ demands for paperwork, shadows those of its critics. In aggregate its ‘corruption’ amounts to less than that of most city governments and its annual cost amounts to less than that of the sum of all flowers and potted plants bought annually in the US or alcohol in the UK over six months.
The UN Charter preamble emphasises that peace depends on justice, itself dependent upon economic and social welfare. Although the World Bank and IMF are UN agencies, in practice their policy springs from the USA and G7, but the wide range of other UN agency work is not seen as newsworthy.
The Security Council was set up, after the League of Nations failed, in clear recognition of super-state power, but the Cold War made it ineffective. Moreover, its membership now fails to reflect a changing world and continues to exclude Third World countries from decision-making. Although world government may be impractical and undesirable, some control of factors affecting conflict, economies, ecology, etc. is needed, with some power of enforcement. ‘Global governance’ could be achieved if decisions could be taken at appropriate levels within the world community.
The Commission on Global Governance made plans for UN reform which could be adopted within its Charter, which were presented to the General Assembly in l995.These involved increased peacekeeping funds, volunteer military forces, an economic security council, an annual Non-Governmental Organisations forum, etc. but the only recommendation so far adopted is another for an international criminal court. Although the General Assembly is usually dismissed as ineffective, it has exercised influence if not power and it serves to demonstrate publicly the inadequacies of great -power politics. The veto inhibits Security Council change and the US imposes conditions for paying its dues - reform is certainly needed. The speaker concluded by emphasising that we now all live in a global context; no country is all-powerful and economically independent; national
sovereignty is an outdated concept. While patriotism is certainly not enough, the political will is basic and we will get the kind of world we want only through public concern.
Discussion then arose on the limitation of the UN to peace-keeping rather than peace- enforcing. In Europe NATO, dependent on US involvement, is limited to its formal boundaries and dependence on one power affects political resolutions. The speaker believes that intervention prior to conflict is desirable and that volunteer and dedicated forces available to the UN would improve conflict
resolution. Apart from US dominance of nuclear powers, the problem of Third World debt needs urgent attention if the UN is to be an effective global agency. Behind disputes apparently over religions, for example, are ethnic and economic issues exploited by profit-seekers, and the UN has inadequate research funds. The role of the Secretary-General is limited and the interpretation of UN rules depends upon a balance of powers. Overall, while some achievements over the last 50 years of the UN may be observed, there is an urgent need for reform.
Geoffrey Catchpole