Abstract
This volume’s point of departure was an overextended United Nations devolving responsibilities toward regional arrangements for security functions1 and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for the delivery of many services. This reflected more than infatuation with a kind of ‘privatization’ of the business of intergovernmental organizations. Rather, it was the realization that in a world with limited resources and more than enough challenges, a better international division of labour was essential. Rather than bleating, as a die-hard member of the UN fan club might, about the inability of the world organization to perform, it seemed more reasonable and practical to examine the dynamics of what could well be enhanced global governance. Within this context, it makes more sense to ask who does what best, or at least better, than to lament the disappearance of a mythical UN system powerful and well-equipped enough to undertake every task. The analytical and policy perspective thus is untidy — there is no straightforward hierarchical arrangement with a devolution from states to the United Nations, and then from the world organization to regional institutions and NGOs. Rather there are pluralistic, or messy, relationships that vary often by task, historical period and geographical area.
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Notes
See W. Andy Knight, ‘Towards a subsidiarity model for peacemaking and preventive diplomacy: making Chapter VIII of the UN Charter operational’, Third World Quarterly, 17 (1), March 1996, pp. 31–51.
For a discussion, see Thomas G. Weiss, David P. Forsythe and Roger A. Coate, The United Nations and Changing World Politics (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994), especially pp. 17–59.
See Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Supplement to An Agenda for Peace, document A/50/60-S/1995/1, reprinted in An Agenda for Peace 1995 (New York: United Nations, 1995), especially paras 85–8.
See Louise Fawcett, ‘Regionalism in historical perspective’, in Louise Fawcett and Andrew Hurrell (eds), Regionalism in World Politics: Regional Organizations and World Order (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 9–36.
Oscar Schachter and Christopher Joyner, United Nations Legal Order (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), p. 258.
Robert E. Riggs and Jack C. Piano, The United Nations: International Politics and World Organization, 2nd edn (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing, 1994), pp. 111–12.
See Tom Baker, ‘On the genealogy of moral hazard’, Texas Law Review, 75, 1996, p. 237.
See Amir Pasic and Thomas G. Weiss, ‘The politics of rescue: Yugoslavia’s wars and the humanitarian impulse’, Ethics and International Affairs, XI, 1997, pp. 105–31.
See David Reiff, ‘The humanitarian trap’, World Policy Journal, XII (4), Winter 1995–6, pp. 1–12;
John Prendergast, Frontline Diplomacy: Humanitarian Aid and Conflict in Africa (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1996);
and especially Michael Maren, The Road To Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity (New York: Free Press, 1997). See also William D. Montalbano, ‘Is giving aid worth the risk?’ Los Angeles Times, 25 January 1997, p. 1.
See Peter Uvin, ‘Scaling up the grass roots and scaling down the summit: the relations between Third World nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations’, Third World Quarterly 16 (3), 1995, pp. 495–512.
See Ernst B. Haas, When Knowledge is Power: Three Models of Change in International Organizations (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990).
The Commission on Global Governance, Our Global Neighbourhood (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 252–7.
For discussions, see Leon Gordenker and Thomas G. Weiss, ‘The collective security idea and changing world politics’, in Thomas G. Weiss (ed.), Collective Security in a Changing World (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1993), pp. 3–18;
and George W. Downs (ed.), Collective Security beyond the Cold War (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994), especially pp. 11–39.
For a clear Realist view on this subject, see John J. Mearsheimer, ‘The false promise of international institutions’, International Security, 19 (3), Winter 1994–5, pp. 5–49.
Michael S. Lund, Preventive Diplomacy and American Foreign Policy (Washington, DC: US Institute of Peace Press, 1994), and Preventing Violent Conflicts: A Strategy for Preventive Diplomacy (Washington, DC: US Institute of Peace Press, 1996).
See also Stephen John Stedman, ‘Alchemy for a new world order: overselling “preventive diplomacy”’, Foreign Affairs, 74 (3), May–June 1995, pp. 14–20;
and Thomas G. Weiss, ‘The UN’s prevention pipe-dream’, Berkeley Journal of International Law, 14 (2), March 1997, pp. 501–15.
See, for example, Larry Minear and Philippe Guillot, Soldiers to the Rescue: Humanitarian Lessons from Rwanda (Paris: OECD, 1996), p. 163;
Gérard Prunier, The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995);
Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda, The International Response to Conflict and Genocide: Lessons from the Rwandan Experience (Copenhagen: Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda, March 1995), 5 volumes;
and Antonio Donini, The Policies of Mercy: UN Coordination in Afghanistan, Mozambique, and Rwanda (Providence, RI: Watson Institute, 1995), Occasional Paper No. 22;
and United Nations, The Blue Helmets: A Review of United Nations Peacekeeping (New York: United Nations, 1996), pp. 339–74.
R. W. Apple, ‘Showdown in Haiti in perspective: preaching to skeptics’, New York Times, 15 September 1994, p. 1. See also, Robert Maguire, Edwige Balutansky, Jacques Fomerand, Larry Minear, William O’Neill and Thomas G. Weiss, Haiti Held Hostage: International Responses to the Quest for Nationhood 1986–1996 (Providence, RI: Watson Institute, 1996), Occasional Paper No. 23;
Yves Daudet (ed.), La crise d’Haïti (1991–1996) (Paris: Editions Montchrestien, 1996);
and Roland I. Perusse, Haitian Democracy Restored, 1991–1995 (New York: University Press of America for the Inter-American Institute, 1995).
See S. Neil MacFarlane and Thomas G. Weiss, ‘Regional organizations and regional security’, Security Studies, 2 (1), Autumn 1992, pp. 6–37. For an extended argument about a ‘partnership’ between the UN and regional organizations, see Alan K. Henrikson, ‘The growth of regional organizations and the role of the United Nations’, in Louise Fawcett and Andrew Hurrell (eds), Regionalism in World Politics, pp. 122–68.
The discussion about the components of accountability was first made in relationship to Russia by Jarat Chopra and Thomas G. Weiss, ‘Prospects for containing conflict in the former Second World’, Security Studies, 4 (3), Spring 1995, pp. 552–83.
See Bertrand Schneider, The Barefoot Revolution: A Report to the Club of Rome (London: IT Publications, 1988);
and Lester M. Salamon and Helmut K. Anheier, The Emerging Sector: An Overview (Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies, 1994).
For a recent set of essays linking this phenomenon to multilateralism, see Thomas G. Weiss and Leon Gordenker (eds), NGOs, the UN, and Global Governance (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1996).
See Paul Wapner, ‘Politics beyond the state: environmental activism and world civil politics’, World Politics, 47 (3), April 1995, pp. 311–39;
Peter J. Spiro, ‘New global communities: nongovernmental organizations in international decision-making institutions’, Washington Quarterly, 18 (1), Winter 1995, pp. 45–56; and Weiss and Gordenker (eds), NGOs.
For a discussion and statistics, see Ian Smillie, The Alms Bazaar: Altruism under Fire — Non-Profit Organizations and International Development (Hartford, Conn.: Kumarian Press, 1995).
See also a set of books from Michael Edwards and David Hulme (eds), Making a Difference: NGOs and Development in a Changing World (London: Earthscan, 1992); Beyond the Magic Bullet: NGO Performance and Accountability in the Post-Cold War World (West Hartford, Conn.: Kumarian Press, 1996); and Too Close for Comfort? NGOs, States and Donors (West Hartford, Conn.: Kumarian Press, forthcoming).
For a more critical view, see A. Fowler, Nongovernmental Organizations in Africa: Achieving Comparative Advantage in Relief and Micro-Development (University of Sussex Institute of Development Studies, 1988), Discussion Paper 249.
See Jon Bennett, Meeting Needs: NGO Coordination in Practice (London: Earthscan, 1995).
Andrew Natsios, ‘NGOs and the UN in complex emergencies’, Third World Quarterly, 16 (3), September 1995, p. 418, and ‘Humanitarian relief interventions in Somalia: the economics of chaos’, International Peacekeeping, 3(1), Spring 1996, p. 88.
See David Held, Democracy and the Global Order: From the Modern State to Cosmopolitan Governance (Palo Alto, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1995).
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Smith, E.M., Weiss, T.G. (1998). UN Task-Sharing: Toward or Away from Global Governance?. In: Weiss, T.G. (eds) Beyond UN Subcontracting. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26263-2_11
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