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The United Nations: A Very Short Introduction
by
Jussi M. Hanhimäki
4.11 · Rating details · 19 Ratings · 2 Reviews
After seven decades of existence has the UN become obsolete? Is it ripe for retirement? As Jussi Hanhimaki proves in the second edition of this Very Short Introduction, the answer is no. In the second decade of the twenty-first century the UN remains an indispensable organization that continues to save lives and improve the world as its founders hoped. Since its original publication in 2008, this 2nd edition includes more recent examples of the UN Security Council in action and peacekeeping efforts while exploring its most recent successes and failures.
After a brief history of the United Nations and its predecessor, the League of Nations, Hanhimaki examines the UN's successes and failures as a guardian of international peace and security, as a promoter of human rights, as a protector of international law, and as an engineer of socio-economic development. This updated edition highlights what continues to make the UN a complicated organization today, and the ongoing challenges between its ambitions and capabilities. Hanhimaki also provides a clear account of the UN and its various arms and organizations (such as UNESCO and UNICEF), and offers a critical overview of the UN Security Council's involvement in recent crises in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Libya, and Syria, and how likely it is to meet its overall goals in the future.
Regardless of its obstacles, the UN is likely to survive for the foreseeable future. That alone makes trying to understand the UN in all its manifold - magnificent and frustrating - complexity a worthy task. With this much-needed updated introduction to the UN, Jussi Hanhimaki engages the current debate over the organizations effectiveness as he provides a clear understanding of how it was originally conceived, how it has come to its present form, and how it must confront new challenges in a rapidly changing world.
ABOUT THE SERIES:
The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
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Paperback, 192 pages
Published June 2nd 2015 by Oxford University Press, USA (first published May 1st 2015)
ISBN
0190222700 (ISBN13: 9780190222703)
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September 15, 2018 – Shelved as: to-read
September 15, 2018 – Shelved
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Jul 15, 2017Jack rated it it was amazing
Shelves: political-science
If you're in the market for a simple yet stimulating primer on the United Nations, this is the one. The author, historian Jussi Hanhimaki, concisely explains the organization's history, structure, mechanisms, and objectives. Clocking in at 147 pages, along with a helpful chronology and a glossary of acronyms, this is a very solid entry in Oxford University Press's "Very Short Introduction" series.
Hanhimaki has filed a large number of key facts in supporting graphics (charts, tables, and boxed text), leaving much space to present a balanced yet pointed critique of his subject. Asserting that the U.N. has done much good for millions of people -- indeed, that it is "an indispensable part of the global community" -- he nonetheless takes aim at the organization's most glaring shortcomings. First, he laments that the U.N.'s potential for acting as a guarantor of peace will always be undermined by the fact that the organization is composed of nation-states that, by nature, are motivated by their own security interests. The U.N., in his judgment, is merely a "tool of nations", not an independent and impartial overlord, and it is destined to remain that way indefinitely.
Second, Hanhimaki knocks the organization's bureaucratic tendencies, its inclination "to build new structures on top of already existing ones" rather than initiate effective reforms. On this count, he cites the creation of the U.N. Commission on Human Security (CHS). This agency, established in 2001, issued a report calling for "a new security framework" for the purpose of fighting poverty, establishing environmental safeguards, protecting children, halting the international arms and drug trades, and expanding access to medical care. Hanhimaki acknowledges the necessity of addressing such problems but points out that the U.N. already had departments specifically tasked to deal with each of the issues outlined in the CHS's report. Hanhimaki bemoans the negative consequences of such unnecessary bureaucratic expansion: "Meager resources often are squandered due to lack of operational coherence".
Again, I recommend this book to anyone on the lookout for a rewarding entry-level examination of the United Nations. Hanhimaki is an incisive and engaging writer, and I'm looking forward to reading his studies of U.S. foreign relations in the 1970s: *The Flawed Architect: Henry Kissinger and American Foreign Policy*, and *The Rise and Fall of Détente: American Foreign Policy and the Transformation of the Cold War*. (less)
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Feb 01, 2016Steve rated it it was amazing
Shelves: history
Another fine little VSI from Oxford. Summary to come.
