United Nations, Divided World
At a time when many long-standing international conflicts seem to be winding down and prospects for the United Nations seem more promising, publication of these lectures, given at Oxford in 1986 when the organization's fortunes were at a low point, can help show the way to a more useful role. The authors, all of whom speak from extensive personal experience and with full understanding of the U.N.'s limitations, include Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Sir Anthony Parsons, Maurice Bertrand and Evan Luard.
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The United Nations is only an instrument of sovereign states occasionally useful in specific crises. When used hastily or inappropriately, it risks internationalizing and prolonging local conflicts.
Seeing an historical opportunity to strengthen the United Nations, the Secretary General calls for a number of changes in the world body. These include a special fund for quick start-ups of peacekeeping operations and standby arrangements for specially trained troops and the relevant equipment for peacekeeping.
The UN's need for means of military enforcement was foreseen by the Charter, and the post-Cold War international scene is likely, as the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait showed, to require such means to be available. However, the lack of a standing force means that enforcement has always had to be improvised. However, in cases involving major commitment, such as the Gulf war, such an approach "is not likely to be viable unless the vital interests of one or more major military powers is at risk", a limitation which detracts from the global security missions of the UN. A more promising alternative is to create a system for the provision of forces under contract between member states and the UN. A discussion of the contractual and operational command issues involved in such a proposal.

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