The United Nations at fifty : retrospect and prospect : papers from the Thirtieth Foreign Policy School, 1995 / edited by Ramesh Thakur.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Acknowledgments -- About the Contributors -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction: Past Imperfect, Future UNcertain -- The United Nations at Fifty: A Performance Appraisal -- The Achievements and Shortcomings of the United Nations -- Cooperating for Peace -- The United Nations and the Mediation of International Disputes -- The Future of UN Peacekeeping Operations: Cosmetic or Comprehensive? -- A UN Agenda for Development: Reflections on the Social Question in the South -- Peacekeeping in Africa: A New Zealand Defence Force Perspective -- The Lessons Learnt from UNTAC: The Military Component View -- The Bosnia Experience -- Peacekeeping or Peace Enforcement? Global Flux and the Dilemmas of UN Intervention -- Reforming The Security Council: A Japanese Perspective -- An Asian Perspective on the United Nations System -- The Adaptation of the United Nations to a Turbulent World -- Reforming the United Nations -- Promoting Peacemaking and Peacekeeping: The Role and Perspective of the International Peace Academy -- Global Governance and the United Nations -- Summary: A Mid-Life Crisis for the UN at Fifty -- Index.

"The United Nations opened up new horizons in 1945. But its actions have been small, hesitant and limited. The founding dream of a world community equal in rights and united in vision has never come close to being realised." "The end of the Cold War and the forceful response to Iraq's aggression created expectations that the UN would change from a marginal to a central 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 aspirations for a better world? Is the UN the best forum for managing the growing interdependence over the next fifty years? Or, afflicted by waste, corruption, inefficiency and the pursuit of power politics, is the UN in real danger of being marginalised once again?" "In this book, foreign ministers and generals, as well as ambassadors and scholars, provide sober assessments of how the United Nations can meet the challenge of a balance between the desirable and the possible. The UN's greatest strength is that it is the only universal forum for global cooperation and management. As such, it must continue to play a central role in establishing a world order which strikes a balance between social justice and political realism."--BOOK JACKET.

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