MACMILLAN Adapting the United Nations to a Post-Modern Era: Lessons Learned (Global Issues)

Product Description This volume addresses the central theme of adjusting the United Nations system in light of, firstly, the broadening definition of security, secondly, a perceived shift from modernity to post-modernity; and finally, the contemporary debate about reform, adaptation and institutional learning in multilateral institutions during transnational periods. The UN has not been successful in learning appropriate lessons that could facilitate requisite changes to its structure and operations. Thus the authors in this study focus on the lessons learned from the organizations' recent performance in collective security, preventative diplomacy, preventative deployment, peacekeeping, peacemaking, peace maintenance, and international legal, environmental and trade regulation. Review '[A] well-balanced and informed collection of essays on the work and institutional structure of the United Nations. The book is well organized, with a theoretical component exploring institutional change based on the experience of the United Nations in more than five decades since its founding. many of those contributing to the study have been part of the work of the United Nations...[This] combination of insights and theoretical framework provides a thoughtful and important analysis for both the academic and the practitioner.' - Charlotte Ku, Executive Director of the American Society of International Law'...a valuable source of critique, ideas and recommendations for change in the United Nations system...Its practical focus on the lessons that should be learned from recent United Nations activities makes it required reading for those involved or interested in the organization.' - Linda Reif, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Alberta About the Author CHRISTOPHER ANKERSEN Security and Defence Forum Fellow, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, USA DAVID BLACK Associate Professor of Political Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada DOUGLAS LEE DONOHO Professor of Law, Shepard Broad Law Center, Nova Southeastern University, Florida JARAT CHOPRA Director, International Relations Programme, Brown University, Rhode Island, USA ROGER A. COATE Professor of International Relations, University of South Carolina, USA KASSU GEBREMARIAM Adjunct Professor, Wayne State University, USA AMBASSADOR JULIAN HARSTON Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina TOM KEATING Professor of Political Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada GEOFFREY MARTIN Lecturer, St Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia JOSEPH MASCIULLI Assistant Professor of Political Science, St Thomas University, Canada ANDREI I. MAXIMENKO Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Benedict College, Columbia, South Carolina SORPONG PEOU Associate Professor of Political Science, Sophia University, Tokyo MICHAEL G. SCHECHTER Professor of International Relations, James Madison College, Michigan State University CATHERINE TINKER Lawyer, New York City ABIODUN WILLIAMS Special Assistant to the Representative of the UN Secretary General in Haiti