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In the throes of war, protecting such cultural heritage as the Bamiyan Buddhas, the Mostar Bridge, the Timbuktu libraries and Palmyra supposedly is a priority on the international public policy agenda; but government responses so far have been limited to deploring such destruction. This article explores the evolving, albeit contested, norm of the 'responsibility to protect' (R2P) and its relevance for cultural heritage. There is no need for a hierarchy of protection - civilians or culture - because the juxtaposition is as erroneous as choosing between people and the environment. This essay begins with a discussion of cultural heritage and defines the scope for the application of any new international normative consensus. It then explores why R2P, in the original concept of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), is an appropriate framework for thinking about cultural protection, despite considerable political headwinds. It then examines the current opportune political moment and existing legal tools. Finally, there is a brief consideration of the obstacles facing the creation of a better framework for cultural protection in zones of armed conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations is hardly a popular pursuit in today’s academic and policy literatures, and so it is unsurprising that an examination of that multilateral structurebefore1945 shows an even more egregious absence of analytical attention. Such ignorance conveniently ignores the forgotten genius of 1942–45, namely in the wide substantive and geographic relevance of multilateralism during World War II and in the foundations for the contemporary world order. This collection of papers critically reviews the worlds of 1945 and 2015, of then and now, to determine the role of continuity and change, of the ongoing bases for compromise, and for the clashes between the Global South and Global North. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Russia’s challenge to the post-cold war order, and the rise of Islamic State have resulted in a call for increased military spending among NATO members. Despite the increased demand for UN peace operations, any expansion is unlikely to benefit the world organisation. Instead we see an increasing reliance upon regional organisations like the African Union, European Union and NATO, in particular, for robust peace operations. An analysis of Western states (France, Germany and the USA) suggests that future investments in weaponry, technology and staff will primarily benefit NATO and the EU, but not the United Nations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The importance of emerging powers in the UN development system is undeniable, but their influence over the shape of the post-2015 agenda is less clear. This article examines recent survey data by the Future UN Development System (funds) Project in order to better gauge the perceptions of the world organisation’s problems and prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented in which the authors discuss various reports within the issue on the topic of a partnership between emerging powers and the organization the United Nations (UN).

‘Sustainable development’ – as currently and politically correctly formulated – provides an inappropriate basis on which to frame a future-oriented UN agenda, and risks perpetuating patterns of assistance in which most UN organisations perform poorly and in the shadow of alternative and more able multilateral and bilateral sources. UN operations should take as their point of departure the comprehensive agenda outlined by the two world summits of 2000 and 2005. This agenda recognises the value-based UN as the only universal-membership organisation, which combines the concerns of satisfying human needs while ensuring security, human rights, justice and sound governance. The post-2015 agenda should not look only at development and environment but aspire to what a million global voices canvassed by the UN in ‘the world we want’ campaign are clamouring for. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses military humanitarianism in the form of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine in relation to the lack of international humanitarian intervention in Syria's Civil War as of 2013. Topics include the support of the United Nations (UN) for the R2P approach, criticism of R2P as a justification for imperialism, and international intervention in Libya's Civil War in 2011. Other topics include humanitarian intervention in the Central African Republic (CAR), lack of agreement within the UN Security Council, and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

The article focuses on the author's view on the means to improve governance as reflected in the book "Worlds in Transition: Evolving Governance Across a Stressed Planet," by Jim Falk and Joseph A. Camilleri. He notes that reading the book makes one realizes the massive scope and original synthesis that goes far beyond social science. He mentions that he shares the motivation of the authors that modernity has reached its limits of intellectual coherence and organizational efficacy. He mentions that world crises are important for individuals and governments to alter their world views.

This essay explores humanitarian action, and by effect post-conflict state-building, in the so-called new wars of the post-cold war period – especially the targeting of civilians, the proliferation of non-state actors, and the perils of war economies. The host of reactions by aid agencies, termed ‘new humanitarianisms’, has called into question traditional operating principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence while the system has experienced dramatic increases in the number of organizations and available funds. Arguing that too little institutional learning has yet occurred, the authors call for changing the culture of aid agencies and investing in information gathering and sharing, policy analysis, and planning. In an era when reflection time is as valuable as reaction time, they stress the need to develop a humanitarian equivalent of military science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on UN Voices: The Struggle for Development and Social Justice (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005), a volume of oral history interviews with 73 individuals who were key to the evolution of UN development thinking. This article has two purposes: to provide a flavour of the UN story that those 73 voices tell in the book; and to discuss its central conclusions about the role of international organisations as intellectual actors. Oral history as method and product provides insights in solving a key puzzle in contemporary affairs -- how ideas eventually become part of international discourse, policy, and action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations' and United States' responses to the events of 11 September and to Iraq reveal lessons and dilemmas for both. After a decade of having its legitimacy tested and undermined, the organisation is at a crossroads. The possible directions it can take are deeply influenced by US actions. For Washington, its use of the UN in the immediate aftermath of 11 September and its return to the organisation for help with post-war Iraq reveal an approach that continues a tradition of mixed messages at the UN. It is essential to facilitate this tactical multilateralism -- a recognition of the importance of UN legitimacy and support to US interests -- even though that recognition may constrain US actions and choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes reactions to the report on humanitarian interventions entitled "The Responsibility to Protect, issued by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. Prospects for future humanitarian interventions are analyzed. It is noted that the report has failed in the political goal of consolidating the consensus on conditions for humanitarian interventions after the events of the 1990s. The effects of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq on humanitarian discourse are also reviewed. It is concluded that the concept of a responsibility to protect civilians in extreme humanitarian emergencies survived in the September 2001 event and the in the Afghan War.

Focuses on the debate over the need for reforms in United Nations Security Council following concerns of the international community on the credibility of the agency. Failure in efforts of reforms in the UN Charter in the past; Justification for reforms given by some member countries; Controversy over the issue of membership in the Security Council.

This article evaluates the situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) a decade after the first mandate for the Representative of the Secretary-General on IDPs. Paradoxically, this fastest growing category of war-affected populations has no institutional sponsor or agreed international legal framework, whereas refugees, whose numbers are diminishing, benefit from well developed institutional and legal efforts through the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. At the outset of the 1990s the growing and massive numbers of IDPs and the changing nature of warfare suggested that what formerly had seemed a blemish was actually an ugly structural scar. In 1992 the UN Commission on Human Rights created the mandate, and the UN Secretary-General designated Francis M Deng to assume it. The independently financed Project on Internal Displacement, which he co-directs with Roberta Cohen, was set up specifically to support the mandate, an interesting model for other cash-pressed rapporteurs on human rights. Productivity and output have been impressive: a normative framework is in place and international discourse has changed, guiding principles are circulating, and institutions have begun to emphasise the particular problems of IDPs. However, there is no capacity to undertake systematic monitoring or follow-up of previous visits to countries that continue to flout international decisions. Greater in-depth analyses are prerequisites for better policy and advocacy. A permanent mandate and more adequate funding are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the Kosovo Report which is about the humanitarian war waged by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Kosovo, Serbia in 1998. Details on the complex moral, political and operational context of the international response in Kosovo; Assertions of the lessons learned from the war.

This article takes seriously the proposition that ideas and concepts, both good and bad, have an impact on international public policy. It situates the emergence of governance, good governance and global governance, as well as the UN's role in the conceptual process. Although 'governance' is as old as human history, this essay concentrates on the intellectual debates of the 1980s and 1990s but explores such earlier UN-related ideas as decolonisation, localisation and human rights, against which more recent thinking has been played out. A central analytical perspective is the tension between many academics and international practitioners who employ 'governance' to connote a complex set of structures and processes, both public and private, while more popular writers tend to use it synonymously with 'government'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civilian humanitarians working with peacekeepers or peace-enforcers in complex emergencies do not function cohesively but rather as a loose collection of independent actors pursuing separate agendas. Although `lessons-learned' has become a buzzword in post-Cold War parlance, few lessons have actually been learned if the definition includes fundamental institutional changes and not just rhetoric. In particular within the humanitarian arena, the so-called United Nations reform of 1997 failed to move towards better operational orchestration and fewer moving parts. The best way to improve military-civilian interactions would be more consolidation, which would represent a 'shake-out' for independent intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the process of task-sharing between the United Nations (UN), regional institutions and service-providing non-governmental organizations (NGO). The management and coordination problems resulting from the UN's task-sharing with both sets of organizations provide distinct challenges. While procedural changes may be sufficient to improve UN-NGO task-sharing and performance, they are insufficient to improve coordination and cooperation between the UN and regional institutions. For the former, more effective could be synonymous with better global governance. For the latter, more effective could indicate a move away from enhanced global governance and towards unbridled regional autonomy or even hegemony in determining actions to foster peace and security.

This article examines the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in specific sectors of important international concern. In the United Nations (UN) system, the role of NGOs was originally defined primarily in a legal sense, as opposed to a functional one. The legal definition, based on article 71 of the UN Charter and the rules of procedure embodied in resolution 1296 (XLIV) that the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted in 1968, treats NGOs as either consultative bodies related to ECOSOC or to the official governing bodies for other UN organizations and bodies. NGO participation in setting agendas and in making appearances to advocate policies fell under strict intergovernmental control. These legal rules have become increasingly obsolete, and difficult to adapt to changing conditions. They hardly ever represented the variety of actual relationships. These could be represented as a continuum that ranges from dependency, interdependence and independence to isolation and virtual opposition.

The article explores the participation of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) in organized international relations. At the same time, the principal participants in making policies and executing programmes in the international institutions in the United Nations (UN) realm remain government representatives. The case studies describe nongovernmental organisations that challenge governments and their intergovernmental creations, even as these nongovernmental organizations work parallel with governments and other NGO that, in some respects, operate almost seamlessly with governments. Nongovernmental organisations clearly operate in every geographic range from the community to the transnational. Although the case studies focus on the UN agencies, national governments are never allowed to drift far from view.

The article focuses on the growth of nongovernmental organizations (NGO). Moreover, nongovernmental organizations are omnipresent in many aspects of international relations, and they may have become crucial to the future of the United Nations (UN). In spite of the growth of the NGO phenomenon, confusion or ignorance persists as to the definition of the participants and the nature of their relationships to the UN system and to one another. Theoretical explorations have tended to be few in number and specific to a particular sector of activity, especially aspects of economic and social development and of the environment. A considerable body of writing has a primarily legal character, which overlooks or understates the richness of NGO activity and politics. Definitional clarity connects closely with concepts of structure, organisation and institutionalisation. The relationship between governments and NGO includes many complexities and rapid changes that sometimes run parallel to the pluralism permitted by governments.

This article discusses the progress in Central America as a result of a creative blending of the activities of regional and universal intergovernmental and nongovernmental bodies. Each type of organization at each level played an essential role in completing those of others. These roles shifted flexibly over time in response to evolving conditions. The result was a dramatic enhancement in human security in much of the region, even if the peace process in both Nicaragua and El Salvador remain tenuous.

Focuses on conflicts in Third World countries after the end of the Cold War. Emergence of pessimism and fear; Differences made by the Cold War on countries in the Third World; American policy choices for a post-Cold War security agenda for the regions.

Examines Russian support for United Nations (UN) peacekeeping efforts in the country. Steps taken by the Russian government to achieve the goal of consolidating and further developing the positive experience and practice of UN peacekeeping operations; History of Russia's recalcitrance on the subject of peacekeeping; Areas for superpower cooperation in peacekeeping operations in Russia.

The article presents a discussion on peacekeeping military operations of the United Nations. It mentions a report by UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali titled "An Agenda for Peace" which explores the role of the UN in international peacekeeping efforts. The article provides a historical background on the participation of the UN in the Cold War and conflicts in Somalia and Yugoslavia. It discusses the suggestions of Boutros-Ghali's report on using outside military forces in peacekeeping.

The article presents a discussion on Third World countries and Eastern Europe. It mentions the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, which brought developing countries back into U.S. political considerations. The article describes the waning tensions between capitalist and communist countries and the focus of the U.S. on the emerging conflicts between industrialized and developing countries. It provides a historical background of the collapse of communism and its effects on Third World countries including the loss of potential investors and donors.

The authors wish to thank Antonia Handler Chayes and Abram Chayes for the challenge to develop this argument for a working group on conflict prevention in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The pragmatic and visionary options for the creation of a successor to the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs are outlined, together with the political and bureaucratic considerations which led instead to the establishment of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which falls short of what was possible as well as desirable. In order to appreciate the forces which are likely to converge on OCHA, a history of the formation and performance of DHA is detailed, followed by an examination of the prospects for OCHA in meeting its three stated core functions: policy development, advocacy and coordination. Despite a number of improvements over the form and standing of its predecessor, OCHA's prospects for success are constrained by the nature and extent of the UN reform process, the operational realities of humanitarian operations, a variety of unaddressed institutional inadequacies and entrenched resistance to coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1990s the UN has been unable to ignore emergencies within war-torn societies. It has been overstretched by new and complex 'peacekeeping' commitments, and has tended to subcontract to major states, regional organizations and NGOs to provide services. Difficulties frequently arise between humanitarians and military forces because of their different and sometimes conflicting objectives and modes of operation in complex emergencies. Seven categories of operation are identified where civilian humanitarians and military forces interact and co-operate. They demonstrate that humanitarianism has been politicized and suggest that, under certain circumstances, civilian humanitarians will be obliged to temper traditional principles of neutrality and impartiality. A new reality has emerged which recognizes that humanitarian action does not occur in a political vacuum. In effect there has been a 'loss of innocence' on the part of agencies and humanitarians engaged in providing assistance to afflicted peoples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]