Admission To The United Nations

The United Nations began as an alliance during World War II. Eventually, however, the UN came to approximate a universal organization - i.e., open to and aspiring to include all States. This presents a legal question, for Article 4 of the Charter contains substantive criteria to limit admission of States to the UN and no formal amendment has touched that part of the Charter. This book gives an up-to-date account of admission to the UN, from the 1950s logjam through on-going controversies like Kosovo and Taiwan. With reference to Charter law, the book considers how Article 4 came to accommodate universality and what the future of a universal organization in a world of politically diverse States might be.

Relating the transformation of the UN from wartime alliance to universal organization, this book tells how a presumption came to be entrenched in the UN Charter that any State seeking admission will be admitted and then considers the implications.

The United Nations is confronting a severe crisis at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Its capabilities have been called into question amid a rash of recent scandals and charges of leadership mismanagement, bureaucratic ineptitude, and corrupt activities. Current world opinion seems to express elevated concern about the organization's ability to deal with the complexity of international relations in the new millennium. Despite six decades of survival, its membership still appears unable to maintain a consistent focus or set of practices to pursue common goals. The United Nations in the Twenty-First Century analyzes the significance of the many forces and events affecting the UN's efforts at reform. It provides a detailed examination of these processes for all of the major UN organs and agencies, including chapters on the Secretaries-General, the Secretariat, the General Assembly, the Security Council, and ECOSOC. The chapters on the Secretaries-General are the only detailed discussion that compares, contrasts, and evaluates the tenures of the seven people who have headed the UN. The book's concluding chapters focus on Kofi Annan's reform agenda as it relates to previous UN reform experiences and assess the future impact of recent UN-related scandals and charges of mismanagement.

Revised and updated, The Law and Practice of the United Nations provides an analysis of the main legal issues surrounding the United Nations’ practice, including a thorough discussion of Chapter VII of the Charter and its interpretation.

The United Nations, whose specialized agencies were the subject of an Appendix to the 1958 edition of Oppenheim's International Law: Peace, has expanded beyond all recognition since its founding in 1945.This volume represents a study that is entirely new, but prepared in the way that has become so familiar over succeeding editions of Oppenheim. An authoritative and comprehensive study of the United Nations' legal practice, this volume covers the formal structures of the UN as it has expanded over the years, and all that this complex organization does. All substantive issues are addressed in separate sections, including among others, the responsibilities of the UN, financing, immunities, human rights, preventing armed conflicts and peacekeeping, and judicial matters. In examining the evolving structures and ever expanding work of the United Nations, this volume follows the long-held tradition of Oppenheim by presenting facts uncoloured by personal opinion, in a succinct text that also offers in the footnotes a wealth of information and ideas to be explored. It is book that, while making all necessary reference to the Charter, the Statute of the International Court of Justice, and other legal instruments, tells of the realities of the legal issues as they arise in the day to day practice of the United Nations. Missions to the UN, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, practitioners of international law, academics, and students will all find this book to be vital in their understanding of the workings of the legal practice of the UN. Research for this publication was made possible by The Balzan Prize, which was awarded to Rosalyn Higgins in 2007 by the International Balzan Foundation.

Witnesses include: C. David Welch, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, U.S. Dept. of State; Martin Indyk, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, U.S. Dept. of State; Morris Abram, Chairman, U.N. Watch; John Bolton, Senior Vice-P resident, American Enterprise Institute; Ronald Lauder, Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (CPMAJO); accompanied by Malcolm Hoenlein, Vice-Chairman (CPMAJO); Harris Schoenberg, Director of U.N. Affairs, B'nai B'rith International; and Bruce Ramer, President, American Jewish Committee.

Emerging as a formidable opposition party in Taiwan in 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is now a major challenger on the island's political scene. This text presents a dialogue between DPP's policy-makers and the leading critics from the international scholarly community.

Key resolutions from the first fifty years of the United Nations General Assembly.