What kind of new worldwide organisation could be established that would truly defend humankind’s common resources and limit the major powers? Here are some suggestions for further debate.
By Monique Chemillier-Gendreau
THE reform of the United Nations is an old problem (1). UN bureaucracy, grossly inflated over the years, is widely thought inefficient. The Security Council, the main UN peacemaking body, still dominated by the victors of the second world war, has not lived up to its mandate. It has allowed conflicts to proliferate and intervened arbitrarily. The peace dividend promised at the end of the cold war was an illusion. Arms sales have soared again because the major powers chose to militarise their economies. Peacekeeping missions have developed exponentially, often leading to fiascos (2). President George Bush’s unilateral decision to invade Iraq removed a dictatorship only to plunge that country into chaos and violence, further confirming the helplessness of the UN.
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