Past Imperfect, Future UNcertain: The United Nations at Fifty [Paperback]

The end of the Cold War and the forceful response to Iraq's aggression created expectations that the UN would change from a marginal into a centre player in world affairs. These hopes were seemingly dashed in Somalia, Rwanda and Bosnia. Has the United Nations abdicated its moral duty as the custodian of our hopes for a better world? In this book, foreign ministers, generals, ambassadors, and scholars provide sober assessments of how the United Nations can meet the challenge of a balance between the desirable and the possible.Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors List of Abbreviations Forword; Don McKinnon Introduction; Ramesh Thakur The Achievements and Shortcomings of the United Nations; Malcolm Templeton Cooperating for Peace; Gareth Evans The United Nations and the Mediation of International Disputes; Jacob Bercovitch UN Peacekeeping; Reginald H.F. Austin A UN Agenda for Development; Jorge Heine Peacekeeping in Africa; Tom O'Reilly The UNTAC Military Component; John Sanderson The Bosnia Experience; Michael Rose Reforming The Security Council; Takahiro Shinyo An Asian Perspective on the United Nations System; S. K. Singh The Adaptation of the United Nations; James N. Rosenau; Reforming the United Nations; Keith Suter Promoting Peacemaking and Peacekeeping; Olara A Otunnu Global Governance and the United Nations; A.J.R. Groom Summary; Bruce Brown IndexRAMESH THAKUR is Head of the Peace Research Centre, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, at the Australian National University in Canberra. Born and raised in India, he received his formal education in India and Canada, and has held full-time academic appointments in Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. He is the author or editor of numerous books on Asian politics and international relations and has published widely in both academic journals and quality newspapers.