The United Nations

2018 ◽  
pp. 2-40
Author(s):  
Thomas G. Weiss ◽  
Sam Daws
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International System ◽  
World Politics ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Analytical Precision ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Historical Reflection ◽  
Technological Opportunities

This chapter makes the case for greater analytical precision and historical reflection about the balance between change and continuity within the United Nations since its founding in 1945. The most pertinent changes fall under four headings: the emergence of new threats and new technological opportunities; the increasing role of non-state actors; the reformulation of state sovereignty; and the emergence of a multipolar world. This chapter examines the nature and role of each of these in today’s international system and urges readers to keep in mind three distinct analytical problems: defining the nature of change; determining the meaning of success and failure; and tracking the ups-and-downs in world politics. It also introduces the forty-four chapters that follow in The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations.

World Politics

2008 ◽  
pp. 2-38
Author(s):  
Thomas G. Weiss ◽  
Sam Daws
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
World Politics ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Us Hegemony ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Primary Focus

This article discusses world politics and international relations, with a primary focus on the United Nations Organization. It enumerates the four most relevant changes within the United Nations (UN), namely: the emergence of a single ‘hyper-power’, the emergence of threats, the reformulation of state sovereignty, and the increasing role of nonstate actors. It evaluates the efforts of the UN at problem-solving, discusses the concepts of global governance and US hegemony, and enumerates three analytical problems.

Part 2 The United Nations: What it is, 11 The Legal Personality of the United Nations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Higgins Dame Rosalyn, DBE, QC ◽  
Webb Philippa ◽  
Akande Dapo ◽  
Sivakumaran Sandesh ◽  
Sloan James
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International System ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Legal Authority ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Municipal Law ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Domestic Law

The United Nations (UN) was created by its founding member states when they adopted the UN Charter. Therefore, the legal authority for its existence, status, and possession of legal personality is derived from the role of states as lawmakers in the international system. This chapter discusses the meaning of legal personality and basis for its possession by the UN; status as an international organization; basis for legal personality; consequences of legal personality; position in international law; position in domestic law; what is covered by the legal personality; and the independent competence of subsidiary organs to rely on the UN’s legal personality in international law and such personality granted in municipal law.

SCOTT PEGG, International Society and the De Facto State (Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate Publishers, 1988).

2001 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-470
Author(s):  
MONTE PALMER
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Society ◽  
International System ◽  
International Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Substantial Control

The objective of Scott Pegg's book is to examine the role of the de facto state in the international system. The book begins with a description of quasi-states, entities defined as ineffective states that possess internationally recognized sovereignty as indicated by membership in the United Nations. The de facto state, by contrast, is a political movement that possesses substantial control over a specified territory and population but lacks recognition of its sovereignty by the international community. As expressed by Pegg, “The quasi-state is legitimate no matter how ineffective it is. . . . The de facto state, on the other hand, is a functioning reality that is denied legitimacy by the rest of international society” (p. 5).

Human Security

2018 ◽  
pp. 634-652
Author(s):  
Christopher K. Penny
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Individual Security

This chapter examines the role of the United Nations in developing, promoting, and enforcing norms within three broad understandings of human security: basic human rights; rights for those affected by violent conflict (‘freedom from fear’); and, rights for those experiencing severe hardship (‘freedom from want’). After reviewing key theoretical challenges, this chapter details the UN’s achievements within these three overlapping understandings, illustrating its contribution to furthering individual security. The UN has given meaning to the idea that state sovereignty should be limited and that, in some circumstances, individual rights should trump state interests. Despite the UN’s substantial human security accomplishments, this chapter recognizes the major challenges for the full realization of these ideals.

scholarly journals NGOs in Global Governance: Securing Role through Engagement at the United Nations? (Case Study – Global Policy Forum)

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-158
Author(s):  
Jaroslava Bobková
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
International System ◽  
Relative Increase ◽  
Global Policy ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Policy Forum

What is the role of NGOs at the United Nations, and, by extension, in global governance? With limited possibilities to measure it directly, this article adopts discursive analysis as an innovative approach to the issue. Analysis of three texts by Global Policy Forum represents an important insight into the question and a tool for further research. It shows that despite the relative increase of their participatory rights at the UN, NGOs seem to realise approaching a point of saturation in what they may demand from the UN in terms of their access and moderate the tone of writing accordingly. Drawing on Global Policy Forum’s example, the article argues that NGOs at the UN appear to have transformed from entities begging for more access to its more equal partners. Most importantly, the article represents a blueprint for further research of role of actors in the international system.

The United Nations and the International System

1968 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 902-922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oran R. Young
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International System ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Dynamic Processes ◽  
Dual Relationship ◽  
History Of ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Impact

A notable gap in existing analyses of the United Nations is the relative absence of systematic treatments of the links between the Organization itself and the international system in which it operates. These links constitute a complex dual relationship, both sides of which are worthy of serious analyses. The functions and activities of the United Nations are molded by the fundamental dimensions and dynamic processes of the international system. At the same time, however, the United Nations is itself an actor in the system and it is sometimes able to influence its environment significantly. Throughout the history of the United Nations the impact of the systemic environment on the Organization has far surpassed the impact of the Organization on the system. Nevertheless, the influence of the United Nations on world politics should not be underestimated, especially in its more subtle and intangible forms.

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