Reforming the UN

Abstract

This panel will provide a platform to discuss research related to different avenues of United Nations reform. As the presenters will argue, the UN has several significant shortcomings that undermine both its legitimacy and effectiveness. In order to overcome these issues, there are several aspects of the United Nations that need to be reformed, including the actors and institutions that constitute the UN, their policy-making processes, and the outcomes they generate. Firstly, a substantial part of the UN membership finds that its composition fails to reflect the current balance of power in the international system, and has lobbied during the last three decades to make the organization and its bodies more relevant, effective, efficient, accountable, and credible. Proposed reforms range from improving working methods, the composition of UN institutions, and related electoral processes as well as the bodies' responsibilities, rights and duties. In addition, the UN’s operations, objectives and outcome as well as its international commitments such as peacekeeping and other operations have also come under increased scrutiny. The UN has been target of widespread accusations to be ineffective, unwilling to act and incapable to realize its mandates and Charter-embedded objectives. Its peacekeeping missions have received large-scale critique and framed as to be partially counterproductive or ill equipped. Its policy-making on environmental protection, climate change and sustainable development, among others, have often been argued to be too weak. As a result, scholars and policy-makers alike have made uncounted proposals to enhance policy-making processes and the technical design and conduct of the UN's external operations. Identifying the problems in the UN system as well as potential solutions, this panel will discuss recent works on UN peacekeeping reform, the issue of UN human rights violations, reforming the UN Security Council, the position of the UN Secretary-General, and overall UN reform.

Title	Details
On the Way to Greater Effectiveness Through High-tech-Missions? – The Reform of UN Peacekeeping Through Enhanced Surveillance Elements	View Paper Details
Accounting for UN Human Rights Violations - An Impossible Task? Lesson Learned from the Human Rights Advisory Panel	View Paper Details
Reforming the UN Security Council	View Paper Details
The Selection Process for the UN Secretary-General: Past, Present and Future	View Paper Details
The Norm Life Cycle of the UN reform - Delivering as One & UN System-Wide Coherenc (DaO and SWC)	View Paper Details