The United Nations and Global Governance

Project Members: Thomas G. Weiss

The problématique of global governance is simply stated: the evolution of intergovernmental institutions to facilitate international cooperation and mute international conflict lags well behind the emergence of collective problems with trans-border and global dimensions.

Intended to help policymakers and members of the academic community map the intellectual history of the United Nations, The United Nations and Global Governance: An Unfinished Journey (Ramesh Thakur and Thomas G. Weiss, forthcoming 2009) is structured around five identified ‘gaps' that are said to exist between the nature of many current global problems and existing so-called solutions. These are described as knowledge gaps, normative gaps, policy gaps, institutional gaps and compliance gaps. As such, the work provides an in-depth examination of these gaps and the historical efforts to fill them.

The book will begin with an investigation of the evolution of global governance with a special emphasis on the last two decades when the term itself has become a central part of the public policy lexicon. It will then move on to provide substantive illustrations and analysis of what are believed to be the most pressing contemporary problems for international public policy across the three major areas of interests of the United Nations system (International Security, Development and Human Security). Within each chapter, the UN's special intellectual role will be emphasized.

 

PARTNERS

 

AREAS OF RESEARCH

  • Arms Control
  • Generation of Rights
  • R2P
  • Sustainable Development
  • Tracing the Origins
  • Trade Aid and Finance
  • Terrorism
  • Use of Force

 

PUBLICATION

United Nations and Global Governance: An Unfinished History
Ramesh Thakur and Thomas G. Weiss
(Indiana University Press, forthcoming, 2009)

 

Related Materials

Article
Alec Castonguay
New York — La délégation canadienne à l'ONU était sous le choc hier après avoir reçu la gifle assenée par la communauté internationale, qui lors d'un vote sans équivoque a refusé que le Canada accède au Conseil de sécurité. C'est la première fois depuis la création de l'ONU, en 1945, que le Canada perd une telle campagne diplomatique.
Article
Huguette Young
Écarté pour la première fois par un vote pour obtenir un siège au Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU, le Canada voit son étoile pâlir sur la scène internationale.
Article
In the UN General Assembly hall Tuesday in New York, Canada tasted defeat in a Security Council election for the first time in the history of the UN. It was a shock, but not a surprise.
Article
Victory is not in the bag, but chances are still good that Canada will win a seat in the UN Security Council election to be held on Oct. 12. We have been elected every time we have run, roughly once each decade, since 1948; governments from Pearson and Trudeau to Mulroney and Chrétien have built a solid reputation at the UN for Canada over many years; and we have been campaigning for this election off and on since we last left the council in 2000. Our ambassador in New York has been burning the midnight oil for several years pursuing the 128 votes we need to get elected. The G20 and G8 summits and the Olympics, serendipitously in Canada this year, will at least have shown Canada as a significant country, in spite of the extraordinary costs. But is this a case of needing to be careful of what we wish for? If we win, can Canada carry its end of the electoral bargain? What should Canada do for the next two years on the council? And why should Canadians care about it all, anyway?