1966 Prize Award Essay The Secretary–General and the United Nations’ Function of Peaceful Settlement

1966 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 724-749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark W. Zacher
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
International Conflicts ◽  
Peaceful Settlement ◽  
Prize Award ◽  
Peacekeeping Forces ◽  
The United Nations

During the first twenty years of the United Nations' existence the patterns of its activities changed significantly. One of the most important changes took place in the practices of the Secretary-General. While the most noticeable development was his assumption of the position of executive agent for peacekeeping forces, a less noticeable but equally important one occurred in his activities as an agent of peaceful settlement. The importance of the latter change was that not only did a single official of the United Nations assume new functions and become instrumental in the settlement of a number of international conflicts, but the Organization as a body gained a more influential role in international politics.

Javier Perez De Cuellar, Doctor Honoris Causa at Leiden University

1988 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-203
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
University Of Leiden ◽  
Peaceful Settlement ◽  
University Professor ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
International Peacekeeping ◽  
The University

On 7 September 1988 the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, received the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Leiden. This degree was granted as a tribute to his contribution to international peace, justice and international law. Following an introduction by Professor H.G. Schermers (Leiden University), Professor P.H. Kooijmans (Leiden University) delivered the laudatio in honour of Mr. Perez de Cuellar. Mr. Kooijmans praised the efforts of the Secretary General in seeking settlement of international disputes, and he stated that Mr. Perez de Cuellar had at crucial moments used his personal prestige in order to achieve a breakthrough in the peaceful settlement of international disputes. In particular Mr. Kooijmans referred to the Iran\Iraq, Namibia, Afghanistan, and Western Sahara disputes. In particular Mr. Kooijmans referred to the Iran/Iraq, Namibia, Afghanistan, and Western Sahara disputes. The United Nations is now regaining its relevance as an international peacekeeping force after the various crises of the 1970s and 1980s. Professor Kooijmans contended that the leadership of the Secretary General has to a great extent been the source of this rejuvenation.

What Happened to the United Nations Ministate Problem

1977 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-124
Author(s):  
Michael M. Gunter
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Voting Power ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
To Come ◽  
World Organization

During the past decade, a number of scholarly analyses of the United Nations ministate problem have appeared. This concern is understandable because the dilemma of ministate representation goes to the heart of the malaise increasingly gripping the world organization: How to square formal voting power with the realities of international politics? Indeed, no less of an authority than the late Secretary-General U Thant, in his final Annual Report, warned his reluctant audience that the ministate problem “is likely to become more acute in the years to come.”

Secretariat

1951 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-583
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Peaceful Settlement ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Many ◽  
Made In

During March and April, Secretary-General Lie visited France, Yugoslavia, Greece, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Israel. The trip was made in accordance with his custom of visiting Member countries upon their invitation. His journey had no special political significance “except to advance the cause of the United Nations as the best hope for the peaceful settlement of the many conflicts that now divide the world so dangerously.”

Land of Blue Helmets

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Arab World ◽  
International Conflicts ◽  
Member States ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Political Mediation

Born in 1945, the United Nations (UN) came to life in the Arab world. It was there that the UN dealt with early diplomatic challenges that helped shape its institutions such as peacekeeping and political mediation. It was also there that the UN found itself trapped in, and sometimes part of, confounding geopolitical tensions in key international conflicts in the Cold War and post-Cold War periods, such as hostilities between Palestine and Iraq and between Libya and Syria. Much has changed over the past seven decades, but what has not changed is the central role played by the UN. This book's claim is that the UN is a constant site of struggle in the Arab world and equally that the Arab world serves as a location for the UN to define itself against the shifting politics of its age. Looking at the UN from the standpoint of the Arab world, this volume includes chapters on the potential and the problems of a UN that is framed by both the promises of its Charter and the contradictions of its member states.

The UN Secretary-General and the Security Council

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Organizational Relationships ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
International Mediation ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Relationship

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 edited book The UN Secretary-General and the Security Council: A Dynamic Relationship aims to fill an important lacuna in the scholarship on the UN system. Although there exists 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 adding 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.

Improving the Operation and Functioning of the International Criminal Tribunals

2000 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 759-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daryl A. Mundis
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Expert Group ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
International Tribunals ◽  
The United Nations

Since the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, both International Tribunals have grown tremendously in terms of resources. Despite this growth, the International Tribunals have rendered judgments in only fifteen cases and conducted inordinately long trials—a fault for which, perhaps more than any other, they can be justly criticized. The Secretary- General of the United Nations recently appointed an expert group to review the efficiency of the operation of the International Tribunals and make recommendations for improvement. Following the release of the group's report, the General Assembly requested that the Secretary-General obtain comments from the International Tribunals on the experts’ recommendations. The ICTYjudges, for their part, considered these recommendations in a report to the United Nations setting forth a long-term strategy for improving the operation of the Tribunal.

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