Some
claimed
that the
United
Nations
will never
be an
effective
institu-
tion if it
does not
expand
Security
Council
member-
ship...

Last year, the UN Efficiency Board announced it had found ways to maintain zero budget growth and cut staff by ten percent while still increasing UN activities. UN Under-Secretary Joseph Connor led the board and said the UN was poised to provide "better service, better value, and better management." This year, new Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced even more sweeping reform, reorganization, and consolidation of UN efforts. Ted Turner recently pledged $1 billion dollars over ten years to UN activities. Yet no amount of reshuffling or new dollars seems able to substitute for rethinking the UN's place in the world.

To promote that "rethinking" the Stanley Foundation brought together a number of experts with years of experience in the international arena for its 32nd Annual United Nations of the Next Decade conference this summer in Vitznau, Switzerland. In his opening remarks at the event, foundation President Richard Stanley said, "We have convened this conference on the premise that the global institutions of the future should be built for the global context of the future. We need to look beyond current UN reform efforts to discern the nature of the world and plan accordingly."

Power in the nation-state is further eroded by security threats largely beyond the control of governments. These include terrorism, world population growth, environmental degradation, arms proliferation, and economic inequality within and among states. If no nation acting alone can significantly counter these threats, the challenge for the UN and other international institutions is to determine if nations acting together can do the job.

The most obvious forum for cooperation on these issues, the UN Security Council, was singled out in the conference's report as "...an anachronistic World War II institution that is unrepresentative of the current geopolitical balance—the five nations which have veto power are no longer the only major powers. Some [conference] participants claimed that the UN will never be an effective institution if it does not expand Security Council membership to include such powers as Germany, Japan, India, and Brazil."

NGOs also draw strength from the fact that they can intervene in situations much earlier than many bureaucratically constrained nations—or the UN. According to the conference report, "NGOs do not wait for markets to react or nations to come calling. Several [conference] participants welcomed the increase in NGO activity, seeing it as a way to fill the gaps exposed by nations unwilling or unable to intervene. A few [conference] participants were less enthusiastic, pointing out that some NGOs are irresponsible and ineffective and some are too closely identified with certain states."

The power and high-profile role of these organizations cannot be denied. The UN, in examining its place in the new global context, must find ways to integrate, or at a minimum coordinate, its efforts with those of the NGOs.

Like NGOs, transnational businesses have emerged as new players largely outside the control of nation-states or existing intergovernmental institutions. According to the report, these businesses have "...overtaken the ability of the nation-state to regulate its own economy." Unlike NGOs, there will be little chance for the UN to integrate or coordinate their work with these businesses. Rather, the challenge is to find new forms of regulation. And newly emerging international organizations are taking on that task.

Even under the UN umbrella, agencies are emerging as key players apart from the UN proper. The report said, "Some of the UN specialized agencies that have a narrow focus, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Universal Postal Union are perceived as being much more effective and less cumbersome and bureaucratic than the central United Nations."

On security matters, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe are fulfilling much of the security role, at least for Europe, once envisioned for the UN. Other regional groups like the Organization of American States may be increasingly called upon to deal with security issues within their own area.

The WTO is not the only institution attempting to regulate the globalization of the economy. "Global professional and business associations are increasingly developing generally accepted practices and norms that are being followed worldwide to provide consistency in terminology, financial practices, and operations," said the report.

The Group of Seven (G-7)—United States, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, Canada, and Britain (and sometimes Russia and China)—is another example of an association outside the UN system which attempts to set global policy. Each of these new players are elements of the new global context within which the UN must find a role for itself.

CHART: COURTESY UNITED NATIONS

Recommendations
The conference examined this new context and came up with suggestions for the UN in six different policy areas: international institutions; peace and security; economic development; environment; international rule of law; and trade, finance, and investment. Conference participants were not asked to endorse this list or reach consensus on it. Rather, these recommendations are summaries of ideas that developed during the round-table discussions.

All international organizations, according to the report, need to be reassessed in light of massive economic globalization. There needs to be more NGOs in the underdeveloped parts of the world and more regional intergovernmental organizations. Overall, these institutions need to be smaller and more focused than many current organizations with broad mandates.

In the area of peace and security, a permanent mechanism of preventive diplomacy is needed. The G-7, as well as regional organizations, should be encouraged to explore their role in security issues. NATO expansion's effect on global security should be reviewed. More resources need to go to refugees and internally displaced people, and new highly specialized, depoliticized professional agencies are needed to deal with weapons of mass destruction.

UN involvement in economic development should undergo comprehensive reassessment and overhaul. UN development programs and activities should focus primarily on the least developed countries. Furthermore, the UN should address the growing serious inequalities between rich and poor and explore the creation of an economic security council.

The report suggests the UN should enhance its involvement in international environmental norm-setting and establish "...an international organization of professional scientists to provide environmental groups and policymakers with hard scientific data free of bias." There also needs to be greater coordination among environmental groups and greater involvement by them in the area of stemming population growth.

On trade, finance, and investment, some participants said a new regulatory regime was needed for international private financial transactions. The report also mentioned the need to restore G-7 summits to their original purpose of macroeconomic consultation and cooperation.

Finally, the report said in the new global context much work is needed in the area of international law. The UN should enhance international legal norms and work toward improving compliance with international law.

In general, the conference participants envisioned a world where the UN and other institutions are not merely associations of governments but part of a world community. These agencies need to be tailored for the needs and circumstances of the new century. As the report concludes, "It may well be that the [UN] would best serve its purpose if its activities were circumscribed, limited to a more specific set of issues that it can handle in a more focused, efficient, and effective manner. To remain in touch, international institutions need to bring into the fold other players who are traditionally disenfranchised from the process. The thinking should focus not only on the kind of national or global institutions we want but the type of society we want."

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