An in-depth examination of the evolving peace and security activities of the United Nations Secretary-General in the context of developments in international politics. The constraints and opportunities which the Office has experienced under Pérez de Cuéllar and Boutros-Ghali in the transition to the post-Cold War world and the controversy which has surrounded the Office reflects the volatility and uncertainty of the UN in a changing environment. It is argued that the Secretary-General's activities in the 1990s reflect a development of the international civil service beyond the classical model.

The new edition of this accessible introduction to the important role of the United Nations Secretary-General continues to offer a keen insight into the United Nations – the Secretariat and its head, the Secretary-General, summing up the history, structure, strengths and weaknesses, and continuing operations of an ever-present global institution. Behind the public face of the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon and his predecessors, an active corps of officials and advisers face ceaseless pressures and challenges. This clear and concise introduction examines both the solid and substantive work of the UN’s permanent staff and the role of the Secretary-General in policy development. The 2nd edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect: the retirement of Kofi Annan and the appointment of Ban Ki-moon as the new UN Secretary General the withdrawal of John Bolton as permanent representative of the United States and the consequent softening of the approach of his government to the UN developments in the global economy and international security dilemmas the change of administration in the United States. Written by a recognized authority on the subject, this book continues to be the ideal interpretative introduction for students of the UN, international organizations and global governance.

The United Nations Secretary-General and the United Nations Security Council spend significant amounts of time on their relationship with each other. They rely on each other for such important activities as peacekeeping, international mediation, and the formulation and application of normative standards in defense of international peace and security - in other words the executive aspects of the UN's work. The UN Secretary-General and the Security Council fills an important lacuna in the scholarship on the UN system. Although there exists today an impressive body of literature on the development and significance of the Secretariat and the Security Council as separate organs, an important gap remains in our understanding of the interactions between them. Bringing together some of the most prominent authorities on the subject, this volume is the first book-length treatment of this topic. It studies the UN from an innovative angle, creating new insights on the (autonomous) policy-making of international organizations, and adds to our understanding of the dynamics of intra-organizational relationships. Within the book, the contributors examine how each Secretary-General interacted with the Security Council, touching upon such issues as the role of personality, the formal and informal infrastructure of the relationship, the selection and appointment processes, as well as the Secretary-General's threefold role as a crisis manager, administrative manager, and manager of ideas.

Once described by Trygve Lie as the "most impossible job on earth," the position of UN Secretary-General is as frustratingly constrained as it is prestigious. The Secretary-General's ability to influence global affairs often depends on how the international community regards his moral authority. In relation to such moral authority, past office-holders have drawn on their own ethics and religious backgrounds—as diverse as Lutheranism, Catholicism, Buddhism, and Coptic Christianity—to guide the role that they played in addressing the UN's goals in the international arena, such as the maintenance of international peace and security and the promotion of human rights. In The UN Secretary-General and Moral Authority, contributors provide case studies of all seven former secretaries-general, establishing a much-needed comparative survey of each office-holder's personal religious and moral values. From Trygve Lie's forbearance during the UN's turbulent formative years to the Nobel committee's awarding Kofi Annan and the United Nations the prize for peace in 2001, the case studies all follow the same format, first detailing the environmental and experiential factors that forged these men's ethical frameworks, then analyzing how their "inner code" engaged with the duties of office and the global events particular to their terms. Balanced and unbiased in its approach, this study provides valuable insight into how religious and moral leadership functions in the realm of international relations, and how the promotion of ethical values works to diffuse international tensions and improve the quality of human life around the world.

Law and Practice of the United Nations: Documents and Commentary combines primary materials with expert commentary demonstrating the interaction between law and practice in the UN organization, as well as the possibilities and limitations of multilateral institutions in general. Each chapter begins with a short introductory essay describing how the documents that ensue illustrate a set of legal, institutional, and political issues relevant to the practice of diplomacy and the development of public international law through the United Nations. Each chapter also includes questions to guide discussion of the primary materials, and a brief bibliography to facilitate further research on the subject. This second edition addresses the most challenging issues confronting the United Nations and the global community today, from terrorism to climate change, from poverty to nuclear proliferation. New features include hypothetical fact scenarios to test the understanding of concepts in each chapter. This edition contains expanded author commentary, while maintaining the focus on primary materials. Such materials enable a realistic presentation of the work of international diplomacy: the negotiation, interpretation and application of such texts are an important part of what actually takes place at the United Nations and other international organizations. This work is ideal for courses on the United Nations or International Organizations, taught in both law and international relations programs.

The role of the United Nations in collective security has been evolving since its inception in 1945. This book explores collective security as practiced within the legal framework provided by the United Nations Charter, with a particular focus upon activity undertaken under the auspices of the UN Security Council, the body conferred by the Charter with the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Although the book is primarily grounded in international law, where appropriate it also draws upon relevant political insights in order to present a clear picture of the UN collective security system in operation and the factors which impact upon the way in which it functions. Offering a comprehensive analysis it considers the full range of measures which can be utilised by the UN in the performance of its collective security remit including military enforcement action, peacekeeping, non-military sanctions and diplomacy. The book considers each of these measures in detail, assessing the legal framework applicable to the form of action, the main legal controversies which arise in respect of their appropriate utilisation, and the UN’s use of this collective security ‘tool’ in practice. The book draws conclusions about the main strengths and shortcomings of the various means through which the UN can attempt to prevent, minimise or end conflict.

This Handbook brings together scholars whose essays discuss significant issues with regard to international organization as a process and international organizations as institutions. Although the focus is on intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are discussed where relevant. The handbook is divided into six parts: Documentation, Data Sets and Sources International Secretariats as Bureaucracies Actors within International Bureaucracies Processes within International Bureaucracies Challenges to International Organizations, and Expanding International Architectures. The state-of-the-art articles are meant to encourage current and future generations of scholars to enjoy working in and further exploiting the field and are also of great interest to practitioners of international organization and global governance

This text illustrates and advances the argument that International Organizations (IOs) need to be taken seriously as actors in world affairs. The text examines recent theories that suggest how IOs are able to set their own policies and implement them in meaningful ways.

This fully up-dated, third revised edition of Conforti's thought-provoking and challenging textbook, The Law and Practice of the United Nations, provides a comprehensive legal analysis of problems concerning membership, the structure of UN organs, their functions and their acts, taking into consideration the text of the Charter, its historical origins, and, particularly, the practice of the organs. Its main focus is on the practice of the Security Council. In particular the action of the Security Council under Chapter VII has been taken into account. The legal literature on Chapter VII - a literature which has grown enormously in recent times - has also been considered. The fact that the legal aspects of the action or the inaction of the Security Council have been discussed to an unusually large extent by ordinary people at the time of the war against Iraq and even later is worth noting. The importance of the role of the United Nations, and the content of the rules governing it, has become a leitmotiv of all debates on international politics. Consequently, the opinion often held in the past, according to which it was useless to deal with the legal aspects of the United Nations activity, can be considered as obsolete.

This study examines how the UN Secretary-General's leadership qualities affect how they address threats to peace and security. The personal traits of all seven Secretaries-General are measured and categorized into one of three leadership styles: managerial, strategic, and visionary.