a democratic united nations?: all articles

A direct connection between the world's citizens and the world's governance needs to be created

The Security Council's sclerosis is just one flaw in a body that needs drastic renovation

The “united nations” invoked by Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill during the second world war was a piece of utilitarian rhetoric, not the precursor to the global institution formed in 1945, argues Anthony Millett.

The United Nations world summit disappointed optimists, but was its outcome so bad? David Mepham reads between the lines for a deeper assessment.

The United Nations world summit suggests that the Bush administration is starting to understand its need for allies, says Johanna Mendelson Forman of the UN Foundation.

The integration of human-rights concerns into the United Nations’ work is evidence that – United States opposition or no – the organisation’s key role in global governance will continue, writes Julie Mertus.

The international organisation is applying its founding principles to renew itself and address human needs worldwide, says Shashi Tharoor, the UN’s under-secretary-general.

The United Nations summit may prove to be a lost opportunity for reform, says Ian Williams. It is time for member-states who care about the organisation’s principles to act in concert – without the United States if need be.

The United Nations needs renewed democratic legitimacy that only a parliament elected by citizens worldwide can provide, says Hanspeter Bigler.

Behind the United Nations oil-for-food scandal is a Bush administration attempt to undermine the organisation and dismantle international law, argues Dan Plesch.

The United Nations is at a pivotal moment in its sixty-year history. Can it become an instrument of democratic global governance? Daniele Archibugi & Raffaele Marchetti draw on the various proposals for UN reform to suggest a new way ahead based on transparency and legality backed by political action.

Dan Plesch rediscovers a forgotten story of the 1940s: how the United Nations was forged, beat the Nazis and established a lasting peace.

Can the United Nations be reformed to make it a guarantor of human security and development in the 21st century? Johanna Mendelson Forman on the ideas and politics of a historic report.

The world needs a reformed United Nations, empowered by global activism and principled governments, that can challenge United States hegemony, says Phyllis Bennis.

How to ensure human security in an age of terrorism and pre-emptive war? As a United Nations think-tank publishes its proposals, two specialists map the international diplomatic minefield on which the UN, its friends and its enemies chart their course.

The United Nations is exploring how best to work with the United States and the international community to meet future global security threats. The UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, outlines the thinking behind the high-level panel he appointed to investigate this key 21st century challenge.

As the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights begins its 60th session in Geneva, Robert Walgate for openDemocracy asks Irene Khan, head of Amnesty International, why she has so little faith in the UNHCHR’s commitment to improve human rights.

The crisis over Iraq has brought the United Nations to a crossroads. At the end of a year when diplomacy was felled by force, the institution can regain its influence only by rethinking its core security mandate.

The period of crisis in international institutions and political order inaugurated on 11 September 2001 has left intact public trust in the United Nations itself. The organisation should seize the moment for a bold, imaginative reform of its institutional architecture – one that will help establish a global public contract able to address the problems of democracy, peace, sustainability and the network society that will define the new century.

The United Nations is and will remain a force for good, argues this senior and influential insider. The charges against it of irrelevance and impotence forget the world body’s ability to manage crises, contribute to regional security, deliver valuable programmes for the world’s poor – and represent a universality of human interest increasingly guided by democracy.