UN Futures and Structural Possibilities of World Governance
Sohail Inayatullah
Abstract.
The range of reforms or thinking about the future of the UN in emerging world
orders is largely predicated on prior beliefs of the nature of the good society
and on possible futures of the emerging world order. This entry investigates
these positions, summarises recommendations for UN transformation and provides a
synopsis of relevant bibliography.
THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS
Idealist:
Idealists such as
P.R. Sarkar, Charles Paprocki, R.G.H. Siu, Robert Muller and Titus North believe
that a parliament of humanity or a world government democratically constituted
by world citizens is humanity's natural progression from barbarism to
civilisation. Only internal fear, greed, hate and other emotions have kept
humans from achieving this goal. The UN will realise its true mission as
humans themselves move towards perfection. This is fundamentally the
moralist-idealist position adopted by humanists, utopians, and spiritualists.
The future world is a mixture of sensate and ideational civilisations; an
integrated world that is holistic, wherein there is economic balance between
regions, between city and rural areas, between genders, and within the minds of
each person[1].
Individuals themselves have found a balance between the materialist and
spiritual tendencies within themselves. In this vision of the future, nations
gradually disappear and identity is reframed around bio-regions and other more
rational, less sentimental (not religious, national, racial, territorial) forms
of social organisation.
Less inclusive is
the Western liberal view of the long linear march of democracy; the perspective
that democracy is the highest form of human social organisation.[2]
The role of the UN is to facilitate democracy throughout the world, stamping out
the structures and ideologies of feudalism, fascism, totalitarianism and
racism. Democracy, however, is contained within the nation state. The United
Nations stays primarily an organisation of nations. People are collectively
best joined within the nation-state rubric. Nations, however, can and should,
join together to create a parliament of nations thus ensuring collective
security.
Within the UN
itself, within the framework of the nation-state, hierarchy of power is
desirable since there are the wise and the foolish, the rational and the
irrational, and the parent and the child. Eventually power and responsibility
will be shared once the foolish change their ways and children grow up, once all
nations become truly democratically representative. This has been a pervasive
American model, democracy having originated in Greece and passed through Europe
to finally rest in the US, it is believed. Now that communism is dead, it is
only the chaos of the Third World that needs to be managed; that is, world order
is primarily a function of implementation, merely a technique, to use Focauldian
language. The image of the emerging world order is one where the principles of
the European enlightenment and further articulated by the US State department
are realised. The UN would ascertain that universal human rights are respected,
that nations follow liberal models of economic growth, and that territorial
boundaries are honoured.
Structural-Functionalist:
An alternative
structural-functionalist view argued for by Zenia Satti posits that the UN must
be seen historically.[3]
The United Nations came about to meet certain needs and changed once these needs
were met. The League of Nations represented the shift from the European
balance-of-powers system to the notion of collective security, of the view that
the entire body of nations would safeguard each other from aggression. However,
non-compliance from states and its weak structure (the inability to stem
aggression when it suited powers) led to the downfall of the League. Nations
continued to make agreements based on their national interest.
Because of the
failure of the League of Nations to become a supernational authority, the UN was less idealistic in its
goals, eventually focusing not on becoming a supernational authority but on
developing mechanisms of regulating the balance of power between the two world
blocks. As a result, general universal notions of justice or peace, behind the
idea of collective security, were in practice abandoned, argues Satti. As a
consequence, UN meetings became focused on theatrics of mass consumption in the
home nations of leaders. However, with the end of the Cold War, the UN is once
again at a transition phase, most argue. What type of UN results in the near
future is dependent on a range of variables, including world geo-politics, the
growth of the world economy, technological advancements, and the globalization
of culture. In any case, the expectations of the UN are higher now, having
reverted to an idealistic phase, at least towards the vision of global
governance if not world government. Radical reforms, for example, call for a
consensus on global human rights, on denying sovereignty of criminal nations[4],
for a world militia, that is, a UN organisation which is more than the United
Nations. Clearly, unlike the 1930's during the demise of the League, the UN is
not irrelevant. As Boutros Boutros-Ghali has remarked, "The United Nations has
almost too much credibility."[5]
Given that the
emerging world order is believed to be fraught with local and regional ethnic
and religious conflicts, usually carryovers from colonial and communist days,[6]
the UN must expand its functions. The task of the UN now that the world is no
longer bipolar is to expand peacekeeping and peacebuilding, to gradually move
towards world governance on issues of ecology, development, human rights and
other problems that no one nation-state can individually tackle. The goal of the
UN is to aid in the original goal of the creation of a community of nations.
Realist:
From a realist
view, critics such as Coral Bell, Keith Hindell, Frank Ching and Wang Kan Sang
argue that any future of the UN must deal with the fact that it is primarily
one-nation run and that all nations use it when it is to their political
benefit. Thus, even though the actual balance of powers has shifted,
governments remain committed to national self-interest. The realist discourse
continues to dominate with global justice applied equally to all nations
remaining an elusive, if not impossible, idea and reality. Thus the idealist
future does not deal with the resentment small nations might feel toward big
power hegemony. How will they find a voice in the UN as it becomes more active,
remains the operating design question? If they cannot, then we should again
expect to see the euphoria surrounding the UN transformed to the realisation
that it is merely a branch office of American foreign policy, argue critics.
In this realist
position of the UN, the image of the future world order is that it will be
primarily dominated by a few nations, those currently wealthy and having nuclear
advantage. The UN will be used on a case by case basis to press military,
strategic, economic and cultural advantages.
Alternatively,
instead of a unipolar world, there is evidence that in terms of relative power
(since no nation has economic, cultural, military and territorial domination)
the most likely world future is that of a multipolar world.[7]
This assertion can have a range of consequences. First, instead of the
assumption that the UN can easily restructure, now that traditional bi-polar
tensions have diminished, it could mean that there will be more tensions, as not
one but multiple hegemonic powers vie for who gets to run the world. Galtung
argues that we might have an emerging Islamic power (two or three generations
hence), India, China, Japan, and three Western (US, Europe, and Russia) hegemons.
However since zones of power are clearly demarcated in this multipolar world
order, structural reform of the UN might indeed be possible. There is a range of
potential conflicts ahead which the UN must prepare to handle: (1) within
spheres of interest; (2) between two hegemons and in border areas; (3)
multipolar (uniting in pairs or other variations); (4) a coalition of hegemons
(as in against Iraq); and, (5) a coalition of peripheries (they of course will
not gain UN legitimacy since they were not victorious in the second world war).
Thus we would
expect the UN to play a different role as it tries to accommodate the cultural
and governance assumptions of these very different world powers. In this model
of the future, we would expect continued efforts of India and Islamic nations to
gain full-time Security Council membership, thus joining the US, France,
England, Russia and China.
In any case, the
guiding assumption is that the UN has come about for various reasons and its
structures reflect these reasons. There is no grand march of history, no
Geist, no divine force leading humanity to progress, to civilisation. Nor
is there any a priori reason that nations should peacefully coexist. Power and
its pursuit, in contrast, are natural. The Prince must rule, whatever guise he
decides to use.
Historical-Structural:
Related to the
functionalist views is a historical structural position offered by Immanuel
Wallerstein and Crane Brinton which argues that because of our historical
evolution there are only a range of possible world structures available: world
ideology as in a world church (the Holy Roman Empire or the Caliphate, for
example); a world state as with the communist model; world empire as in the
Mongol empire or the Roman empire; or world capitalism as politically
constituted by the particular mix of inter-state relations, the call for
democracy within nations, and the actual state of anarchy between nations.
Mini-cultural systems or small self-reliant states or regions have historically
tended to capitulate to these larger structures, as they have been unable to
fend off globalizing trends.[8]
Thus, we should be surprised if a world government or world governance structure
emerges that is multi-cultural, multi-civilizational and resolves issues of
local/global, market/state, individual/collective, and spirit/body/mind
dilemmas. Idealistic utopians, however, argue that these paradoxes can be
resolved, that humanity is on the verge of bifurcation, and that we should
expect a higher level of complexity to emerge that creates a new human being;
one not tied to the dark past, but one committed to a humanistic, ecological,
gender-equal, inclusive view of the future.
SPECIFIC REFORMS
Given these general
positions and images, what are some specific suggested reforms that would create
an alternative future for the UN in emerging world orders:
(1) Because of the end
of the veto-veto structure of the Cold War, the UN is now expected to work
better. Thus no new dramatic changes are needed, rather only implementation
of security and development is needed.
(2) The UN should be
restructured by increasing the number of permanent members on the UN security
council. This is to reflect emerging new military and population powers such as
India and Indonesia. The UN Security Council must become more representative.
(3) The UN should
cease to be nation-state focused and better represent the views of the many
social movements who have been and remain critical of both capitalist and State
oriented economic and cultural models. These include movements such as the
ecological, the spiritual, the alternative-development, indigenous peoples
[9] and women's.[10]
Often representing non-statist perceptions of social reality and value
structures, these groups argue that nations do not adequately represent local
and regional interest groups.[11]
Currently they have no official power and their success lies in the moral
authority they wield and the development programs they have accomplished and the
alternative development model they work from.
However, they are
rejected by many national UN missions since social movements are not considered
to represent the people since they are "private" special interest groups.
They, for example, are not elected to power at local or national levels, yet
claim to represent the people. Social movements, however, respond that while
they are not democratically elected, they better represent the aspirations of
many and represent positions (generations ahead) and groups (the environment)
for which elected officials have no incentive to defend. Nation-state
representatives often only represent a certain elite, usually, male, upperclass,
elite university, and disciplined in political science or international
relations, they also argue.
(4) The UN should
evolve into a world government with two houses: one nation-based the other
population-based (instead of a general assembly and security council) or some
other governance structure that takes into account the range of identities that
exist today. Specific suggestions include that the UN should have three houses:
one based on nations, the second on social movements, and the third a house of
the people.
(5) The power of the
Secretary-General (GS) should increase as currently the UN General Assembly
(GA) bogs down executive decision-making and implementation because of
bureaucratic and national concerns.
(6) The UN should become
less centralised and move to become a facilitator, helping bring social
movements, individuals, governments, ethnicities and other identities into
forums of mutual exchange and negotiation. It should focus on its moral
authority and not attempt to increase its executive, military or judicial
powers.
(7) The UN should be
disbanded because it represents a minority (which can be the West, the third
world, intellectuals, or international bureaucrats depending on one's political,
knowledge and class position). Regional associations are better suited to solve
conflicts. In any case, the UN has merely become a debating society of clever
national leaders. It suits nor helps no one but international intellectuals and
bureaucrats.
(8) The UN must be
revitalised so it can better deal with the many conflicts ahead, including,
but not limited to, issues of the newly created nations, problems within old
nations, and emerging cases resolved only by global law. However to be
revitalised it must obtain increased funding from member nations.
(9) The UN should remove
itself from the exercise of third world development since, among other
reasons, East Asian experience shows that the international system is a
hindrance not a help to the creation of miracle economies, to economic growth.
The sooner the UN (and, of course, related international agencies) ceases to
function (particularly as lender, regulator, and expert) the better it is for
economic growth since the UN only serves to create a global welfare state and to
create development experts who are unable to transform local or global poverty.
LITERATURE SYNOPSIS
We now turn to the
literature abstracted and attempt to summarise it (as well as bringing in other
relevant literature), focusing on recommended changes to the UN and images of
the future world order.
West-Oriented World Government:
Franz Shurmann in
his American Soul gives us two contrasting images of the UN.[12]
In the first, the UN once a debating society has rapidly become a world
government. The first stage of the creation of the world government is a
Western Block from Vladivostock to San Francisco. There are some historical
precedents for this, when in 1879, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck convened a great
power conference to settle all world problems. However in the long run nothing
came out of it, instead a generation later a world war erupted. The most likely
future of a world government is West-oriented: a continuation of the
Enlightenment project of individual rights and liberal democracy for all.
Economies would be liberal and free with borders primarily for labor and drug
trafficking. However, tourists and currencies could travel freely.
In this image of
the future, human rights are seen as individual-based and not from the view of
structure (centre-periphery), collective (the role of groups) nor history
(colonialism). The third and fourth worlds as well as China are left out of
this equation, or must join on the terms of the West if they are willing to give
up their cultural views of rights and the role of the State in capital
formation.
Cultural Basis for Governance:
The Chinese,
however, as evidenced by numerous articles in the Beijing Review take a
different view of the UN, arguing, for example, as He Hongze does in his "New
Role for the UN," that "the internal affairs of one country can be solved only
by the people of that country. The efforts of the international community can
only be helpful or supplementary."
[13] In addition, Chen Jian has argued that reform
efforts should not change the structure or mechanisms of the UN, they should
merely strengthen it. Change should be accomplished through consensus in line
with "the principle of balance and that of rationalisation."
[14]
However, at the
46th General Assembly Keith Hindell in his "Reform of the United Nations"[15]
reminds us that the relativistic argument to human rights was resisted most by
newly-democratic Eastern European nations, who believe that sovereignty is often
an excuse for State terrorism. The issue is: is there a greater good beyond
state sovereignty. Must much of the charter be rewritten to have a "right of
interference" as suggested but later disavowed by Bernard Kouchner, the French
Minister of Humanitarian Action? As the Secretary General has commented,
sovereignty does not confer the authority for mass slaughter.
Shurmann's second
model is similar to the rhetoric of the Chinese model in that it is an
alternative rendering of the UN as the hub of an international community, with
the goal of governance not government. Rather than a club, the idea is
inclusive, people and nations working together to solve common problems.
The Need for Supranational
Authority:[16]
However,
paradoxically--and this the Chinese find contentious to the idea of an
international community--national sovereignty can be a stumbling block, and
clearly a reflection of the Cold War and of the lack of representation of Asian
and African nations in world economic and political bodies. As Hindell argues,
"Taking a slightly longer-term view, the issues of climate change, environmental
pollution, AIDS, migration, drugs, and international crime all require some kind
of supranational authority to act within the boundaries of the [nation] state."
[17] Part of the issue is that without
supernational authority to enforce compliance, individual nations, who are
legitimised in a majority of ways (none of which is total consensus), allow
suffering and pain[18]
to occur to their own citizens. "If national sovereignty resists the measures
to reverse climate change, some UN members will drown while others could lose
large slices of their territory."
[19] AIDS is another example. Hindell also suggests
that an International Criminal Court be established. "An ICC would need to be
backed up by an international law-enforcement agency with powers of arrest,
detention, arraignment, trial and imprisonment."
[20] Of course, all these challenge sovereignty; a
boundary that major powers such as the US as well as less powerful Asian nations
who have yet to realise full (not only political but economic and cultural as
well) sovereignty would yield to. But as R.B.J. Walker reminds us the
nation-state is a recent phenomenon, created out of the battle between church
and empire. It is a reflection of the modern world, neither eternal nor
necessary.[21]
From the view of Hisahiko and Terumasa, what is needed is for nations,
particularly Japan, to adopt a three-fold strategy: national interests, UN
interests and international interests.[22]
These must be balanced. Nations must balance their own interests with those of
the UN itself. Equally important are regional interests.
Moral Not Strategic Power and
Authority:
Robert Aldridge
believes that governments' unwillingness to relinquish authority to the UN
should not be seen as a temporary condition, as idealists have maintained. In
fact given that strong solutions (such as military or sanctions) in the long run
fail, the UN should focus on becoming the "spokesperson of humanity."[23]
Part of becoming a spokesperson involves the Secretary General giving a State of
Humanity address. Robert Muller seconds this proposal for a State of Humanity
address, particularly at the upcoming 50th UN anniversary. He also suggests
that ngos prepare 50-year reports on their activities, results, and membership
so as to articulate comprehensive world assessments.[24]
Education then of the young is a far more important strategy than the long wait
for governments to accept supernational authority, especially when such
authority can go against their own particular national interests.
World Government: Benign or
Dictatorial
Related to this
view is that at the simplest level, whether one believes a world government is
desirable or not is based on whether one believes it will be benign or
dictatorial, argues Titus North.
[25]
North writes that
historically there have been two ways to consolidate power: integration by
empire, that is, by conquest as in the case of the Huns and Mongols; or by
consent, as initially in the case of the US. Conquest attempts to break down
the notion of balance of power between sovereign states while consent attempts
to redefine issues and mutual identity at a global level. The third effort has
been hegemonic, not conquering but avoiding consent as well, that is, creating
spheres of influence, of colonies. As Crane Brinton writes, in "Global
Governance: A historical survey," "It would be rash to prophecy an effective
world government in the near future, but it would equally be short-sighted to
maintain that no such government is possible. On the contrary, the precedents
point clearly, assuming no catastrophic destruction of civilisation, to the
establishment of some form of organised world government possessing the
necessary police and financial powers, and it is not inconceivable that the
United Nations will develop into such a government.[26]
The Inevitability of World
Government:
Far more
enthusiastic about the possibility of a world government is P.R. Sarkar.[27]
For Sarkar, part of the problem is local leadership and the fear that they will
lose their leadership. Normally a cyclical theorist, however, with respect to
governance Sarkar believes that the strength, by and large, of geo-political and
social sentiments (casteism, racism, nationalism) will continue to fade over
time. He advocates a step-by-step formation of a world government authority,
largely based on a transformation of the UN and a strengthening of regional
organisations. As a suggestive design, Sarkar argues for two houses.
The first would have representatives based on population and the second on
nation. Both houses would have to ratify decisions. Initially, the world
government will be legislative but only in certain areas. This will eventually
expand. But world governance must be based on more than a theory of collective
security, it must be fundamentally cultural, humanitarian, a belief that local
cultures combined can create a new global human culture and retain their own
individual aesthetics. In any case, the process for Sarkar must be incremental.
Charles Paprocki,
as part of the International Network for a UN Second Assembly, has extended this
argument further and writes that the UNGA should become an upper legislative
house and a council of non-governmental organisations (or people's
organisations) should become the lower house.
[28] Resolutions would be introduced in the lower
house and, if approved, passed by the Upper house. Once the legislative
structure is in place, Paprocki believes that the world government can become
strengthened once the Executive and Judicial branches have increased power.
A New Ethic for Peacekeeping:
Less concerned with
grand issues such as world government, political scientist Coral Bell, writes in
"The Fall and Rise of the UN" that a new ethic is needed to justify why a young
man from X country should die in a UN peacekeeping operation elsewhere.[29]
Formerly having rights within the context of the nation-state also meant that
one had the duty to protect one's nation. But patriotism does not help the
family of a dead UN peacekeeper. What is needed is the creation of a UN legion,
a military service made up of volunteers, working at their own request. His or
her death would then not be a burden for a particular state but perhaps a hero,
someone who died for the larger idea of global peace or justice. This view is
echoed by Edward Luttwak[30],
who believes it should be structured like the French Legion. Using this
language of justice would take out the issue of mercenary, of men and women
fighting not for their country but for wealth. However, Okasake Hisahiko and
Nakanishi Terumasa ask in "Clearing the Way for a Global Security Role" how can
a standing army be democratically governed?[31]
Who will command the forces? Won't it simply reflect the values and force of
the world power that has most to gain from the particular military action? They
believe that a UN army will primarily reflect the views of the nation that leads
the army and thus argue that Japan should change its constitution so it can play
a potentially greater role in future UN actions.
Transforming the Security
Council and the General Assembly:
Bell gives other
suggestions as well, the first of which is based on her reading of the fall and
rise of the General Assembly (GA). Used initially by the US as a way to avoid
the Security Council (SC) stalemate, the UNGA eventually became a breeding
ground of Third World aspirations, argues Bell. Thus initially for the US, "the
moral authority of the Assembly had been substituted for the merely legal
authority of the Council."
[32] The notion then was that the GA better
represents the community of nations, with the SC representing only the victors
of the second war, the great nuclear powers. However, once the GA was less
compliant to US interests, the US attacked the General Assembly's power in the
UN. The US's miscalculation of assuming that the world thought like
itself--assuming the universal nature of a particular philosophical
tradition--was a fundamental mistake signalling the fall of the UN for Bell.
The implications
are that any effort to rethink the UN must have a cross-cultural view of human
rights, it must account for difference as well as desired similarity, that is,
it must become a real parliament of Humankind, in which nations would create
international harmony and thus banish war and eventually poverty, the original
view of Woodrow Wilson. This is in contrast to the view of the UN as a great
concert of powers, of the mighty paternalistically developing the new young
nations so as to make sure that no evil tendencies arise. Coming to consensus
on issues such as human rights, economic rights, and now even national
sovereignty should begin not with an approach to abstract universals but a will
to peace, to a desired future. This can only be based on an understanding that
behind the structure of inter-state relations lie very real differences of
cosmology and culture, of varying views of social space and time.[33]
The Chinese perspective moves in that direction but stops once national
sovereignty is questioned.
But with the fall
of the Soviet Union, the SC has become the prime global institution and the UN has regained
centre stage, thus allowing the possibility of what it was originally designed
to do. To transform the Security Council,
Bell believes that the Council
must be more representative and include India, Japan and Germany, as well as
some representatives from the South: Brazil from South America, Nigeria from
Africa, and Indonesia from the Islamic world.
Making the UN More
Representative:
Richard Evans in
"Reforming the Union" also believes the UN must be more representative.[34]
He argues that the British, French and German seats should become a single the
EC seat and Japan should get a seat as well. The UN formed to promote peace and
democracy should in itself become democratic, he believes. He asks why five
members can dictate policy to 174 other members. Of course, 15 nations do pay
84% of the budget, but unfortunately there are few suggestions to include this
in the reform equation since nations are expected to be altruistic (or foot the
bill for their international interests).
More problematic
for Evans is that the UN is US-dominated. "Even its allies are afraid to vote
against it."
[35] The US uses the UN to support its own policy
agenda, witness the attack on Iraq and the reticence of action against
Yugoslavia, argues Evans.
Asia's Voice:
In "Reforming the
United Nations" Frank Ching believes that now that the UN is already 50 years
old, Asia should be heard more.[36]
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Ali Alatas suggests the creation of a new category
of permanent members that do not have veto powers. Prime Minister of Malaysia
Mahathir Mohammed raises the larger international relations issue, asking why
the UN is not democratic? He believes the veto should be eliminated. Singapore,
however, has argued that the veto should be diluted not eliminated. Two
negative votes would be needed to block a resolution. Moreover, there should be
a corresponding financial burden to pay for this privilege. Wang Kan Seng, the
Singapore foreign minister, believes that each veto member pay 9% of the UN
operating expenses and 11% of the peacekeeping operations. Other suggestions
include the regionalization of the UN: giving a seat to the Non-Aligned
Movement, to the Organisation of African Unity, to the Organisation of American
States. What these suggestions however do not tackle is the implications for
this. Will this lead to more regionalization, increased effectiveness or to
more stalemates, to a return of not an East-West Cold War but a north-south
divide. Pure democracy while participatory is not efficient and efficiency is
hardly ever participatory.
Accountability in the UN:
But other
reform-minded individuals are less concerned with what the UN does and more with
how it does what it does. American diplomats, for example, argue that the UN
should become more responsible and cost conscious. Equally, Algerian diplomat
Muhammed Sahnoun believes that the UN is slow and incompetent, at least in how
it acted in Somalia.
[37] The French have gone a bit further in their
attacks of UN mismanagement. They propose a tribunal to punish UN staffers.
This and other suggestions have led to plans to create an inspector general to
sniff out fraud, waste and mismanagement."
[38] Of course, being more business-like means less
of a focus on affirmative action in hiring practices. But Yeshua Moser gives
an alternative reading to the problem of fraud. Writing from Bangkok, he argues
that prevalence of fraud in the UN peacekeeping operation in Cambodia has not
only hurt the UN's legitimacy but has endangered peace as well.[39]
In the Cambodian case it has led to increased power for the Khmer Rouge, who
have come to represent "local" people. This situation may end up making massive
airstrikes more acceptable and making more peaceful incremental solutions, since
they are harder to implement, harder to gain agreement for.
This perhaps is the
paradox: how to have an agency that reflects the diversity of world cultural and
management practices and is efficient instead of an agency based on power
politics, office and position chasing. Part of the problem again of the entire
UN is that it is a united nations (representing its member notions) not united
peoples or movements or individuals.
Johan Galtung in
his recent paper, "Global Governance For, And By, Global Democracy," argues for
global governance; with governance defined as soft persuasion, largely using
positive incentives focused on cultural and normative power rather than on
military or coercive power.[40]
This is favoured instead of federal world government systems whose power is too
great. The goal is to create world citizens at different levels of society,
economy, and polity. But who are the world citizens: they are transnational
corporations representing capital, international NGOs representing civil
society, inter-governmental organisations such as the UN (with its many layers
from the General Assembly to the Security Council) and the people themselves.
Thus legitimacy comes from people, capital, and state. What then is needed is a
world assembly of states, a world assembly of people, with direct voting and
direct elections, even referendums, a world assembly of indigenous peoples (to
represent those who have a special claim to the Earth), a world assembly of
international people's organisations, and a world assembly of commerce.
Concretely, this means adding a second assembly to the UN for the people and a
third for the corporations. Membership would be based on criteria such as
representation, level of democracy, concern with human interests, reflecting
world perspectives, and having a sense of the long term, of permanence. Like
Sarkar this is a gradual scenario using Sarkar's famous fourfold articulation of
power: military, economic, intellectual and people's.[41]
MAIN TRENDS
To summarise these
are the main reform-oriented trends:
(1) Transform Security
Council (and make it more representative of real power;
(2) Change structure of
power within UN (between the SG, the UNGA, and the SC as well as UN bureaucracy)
by increasing the power of the SG, or transforming the power of the SC or making
the UNGA more representative.
(3) Democratise UN (by
better representation of aspirations of the world). This could mean not only
within statist forms by, for example, diluting the veto, but also by allowing
for some type of role for NGOs beyond consultative status.
(4) Make UN more
accountable (treat UN as a business instead of a large bureaucracy functioning
through political state level patronage) and thus more responsive.
(5) Redesign the UN--two
houses, four houses, regional associations or some other design structure.
(6) Rethink
Peacekeeping--creating a military with soldiers not from nations but a
professional standing army.
(7) Popularise
UN--create a house of NGO's or social movements that reflect the values of the
women's movement, ecology, positive peace, spiritual transformation, social
justice and sustainability. Develop an annual State of
Humanity
address.
(8) Strengthen UN--more
powers, more military powers, more peacekeeping, more development, and more
funding for the UN.
(9) Become a World
Government--with legislative power initially and eventually executive and
judicial powers; also deny national sovereignty when necessary.
To conclude this
essay, the available recent literature of the futures of the UN in emerging
world orders suggests that there are, in general, three positions:
(A) REINVIGORATE AND
REALISE ITS ORIGINAL PURPOSE
This is the most
popular perspective. It includes a range of structural reforms (SC
representation, right of veto, power of GA, world militia) to prepare the UN for
the next century and the likely political shifts the world is undergoing. Part
of the reformist position is to make the UN more accountable to member nations
and to general principles of good governance. The focus should be on becoming a
moral authority not a world government, a spokesperson for humanity and ecology,
not a site for the advancement of the egos of national functionaries. The UN
should thus realise its mission of being an arbiter of the disputes of nations.
(B) RETHINK ITS
STRUCTURE AND
MISSION
This is less
popular among national functionaries. It involves rethinking the UN
representational structure to include other forms of representation including
social movements, who reflect non-State and non-business power as well as a
general assembly of commerce to reflect the views of global commerce. The rights
of indigenous cultures and of women, not only at economic or cultural levels,
but at the more important level of epistemological transformation[42],
of using their categories to rethink the context, the values, the mechanisms,
and the structure of the United Nations.
(C) TRANSFORM AND
EXPAND ITS PURPOSE
The UN should
become a World Government through some model of layered sovereignties with the
UN having supreme sovereignty on most issues (federal and state structure)
including the right to suspend national sovereignty when needed.
The problem of the
UN as quoted earlier by Boutros-Ghali is that it has too many expectations
placed on it, too much credibility. It is the ideal of a family of united
nations, of united peoples, united organisations that people yearn for, hoping
somehow that the UN organisation can somehow meet that need. The UN then often
is more than the UN, a metaphor of what is possible and desirable: positive
peace and justice. Bosnia in many ways represents the failure of this metaphor
and perhaps a growing up of the UN. If it were not for NATO, the horrific
genocide by the Serbs of Pale would have continued unabated. Realists, of
course, are not surprised given the power politics of the world system and
Idealists have renewed calls for a fundamental transformation in the United
Nations.
In conclusion, the
futures of the UN are dependent on theoretical positions, changes in the world's
geo-politics, as well as the aspirations of individual citizens and
non-government organisations. They are as well tied into long term structural
macrohistorical forces.
In any case, we
should be surprised if the UN at the beginning of the next century has not
evolved from its current structure.
Notes
[1].
Sohail Inayatullah, "Beyond Development and Towards Prama,"
Development (Winter 1994).
[2].
Sohail Inayatullah, "The Futures of Democracy: Broadening the Discourse" in
Ikram Azam, Jim Dator and Sohail Inayatullah, eds. The Futures of
Democracy in Pakistan and
the Third World. Islamabad,
Pakistan Book Foundation, 1994.
[3].
Zenia Satti, "The Role of the UN in the New World Order" in Ikram Azam, Jim
Dator and Sohail Inayatullah, eds. The Futures of Democracy in
Pakistan and the Third World,
Islamabad, Pakistan Book Foundation, 1994.
[4].
Charles Krauthammer, "Rwanda: Africa Should Help,"
Honolulu Advertiser,
(May 29, 1994), B2.
[5].
Quoted in Richard Evans, "Reforming the Union," Geographical Magazine
(February 1993), 24.
[6].
Majid Tehranian, "Ethnic Discourse and the New World Dysorder," Media
Development (3/1992).
[7].
Johan Galtung, "Geo-Political Transformation in the World Economy" in Sohail
Inayatullah, ed., Judicial Foresight in the
Hawaii Judiciary,
Honolulu, State of Hawaii, 1994.
[8].
Immanuel Wallerstein, Historical Capitalism, London, Verso, 1983.
[9].
See, for example, Irene Watson, "How Far is there to Travel in Achieving
Indigenous Rights," Law Society Journal (June 1993).
[10].
See, for example, Shelly Wright, "Human Rights and Women's Rights,"
Alternative Law Journal (Volume 19, No. 3, 1993).
[11].
Immanuel Wallerstein, The Politics of the World Economy: The States, the
Movements, and the Civilisations. London, Cambridge University Press,
1984.
[12].
Franz Shurmann, "World Order--Too Western and Too White," Global Times,
(July 30, 1994), 5. See his forthcoming book, American Soul (Mercury
House, 1995).
[13].
He Hongze, "New Role for the UN,
Beijing Review
(January 10-16, 1994), 23.
[14].
Chen Jian, "Strengthening the Role of the United Nations"
Beijing Review
(Nov. 1-7, 1993).
[15].
Keith Hindell, "Reform of the United Nations," The World Today
(February 1992).
[16].
See James A. Yunker, "Practical Considerations in Designing a Supernational
Federation," World Futures ((Vol. 21, 1985).
[17].
Keith Hindell, "Reform of the United Nations," 31.
[18].
See R.G.H. Siu, Panetics and Dukkha: An Integrated Study of the
Infliction of Suffering and the Reduction of Infliction. Panetics
Trilogy, Volume 2. Washington D.C, The International Society for Panetics,
1994.
[19].
Keith Hindell, "Reform of the United Nations," 31.
[20].
Keith Hindell, "Reform of the United Nations," 31.
[21].
R.B.J. Walker, Contending Sovereignties. Boulder, Lynee Rienner
Publishers, 1990.
[22].
Hisahiko and Terumasa, "Clearing the Way for a Global Security Role,"
Japan Echo (Summer 1993), 9.
[23].
Robert Aldridge, "Two Views on Foundation's Proposal for an Annual UN State
of Humanity Address in Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Waging Peace
Bulletin (Volume 4, No. 1, Spring 1994).
[24].
Robert Muller, "Two Views on Foundation's Proposal for an Annual UN State of
Humanity Address in Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Waging Peace Bulletin
(Volume 4, No. 1, Spring 1994).
[25].
Titus North, "The Increasing Government Roles of International
Organisations." New Renaissance (Vol. 4. No. 3, 1993), 23.
[26].
Crane Brinton, "Global Governance: A Historical Survey" in American
Encyclopedia. Grolier, 1993 reprinted in New Renaissance special
issue on World Government (Vol. 4, No. 3, 1993).
[27].
P.R. Sarkar, "Thoughts On World Government," New Renaissance (Vol. 4,
No. 3, 1994).
[28].
Charles Paprocki, "Prout: Notes on Democracy and World Government,"
Washington D.C., Proutist Universal, 1990.
[29].
Coral Bell,"The Fall and Rise of the UN, Quadrant (July-August,
1993).
[30].
Edward Luttwak, The Australian (12th January, 1993).
[31].
Okasake Hisahiko and Nakanishi Terumasa "Clearing the Way for a Global
Security Role" Japan Echo
(Summer 1993).
[32].
Bell, "The Fall and Rise of the UN," 51.
[33].
Eleonora Masini and Yogesh Atal, eds. The Futures of Asian Cultures
(Bangkok, Unesco, 1993).
[34].
Richard Evans "Reforming the Union" Geographical Magazine (February
1993).
[35].
Richard Evans, "Reforming the Union," 25.
[36].
Frank Ching, "Reforming the United Nations: Developing Countries Should Get
a Bigger Role," Far Eastern Economic Review (25 November 1993), 36.
[37].
Quoted in Richard Evans, "Reforming the Union," 24.
[38].
Thalif Deen, "UN Completes Plans to Probe Own Fraud," Global Times
(July 30, 1994), 2 and Thalif Deen, "France Proposed Tribunal to Try UN
Officials," Global Times (May 7, 1994), 1.
[39].
Yeshua Moser, "UN Peacekeeping in Cambodia," Arena Magazine
(August/September 1993).
[40].
Johan Galtung, "Global Governance For, And By, Global Democracy," (Prepared
for The Commission on Global Governance, Geneva, Switzerland, 1994).
[41].
P.R. Sarkar, Prout in a Nutshell. Calcutta, Ananda Marga
Publications, 1991.
[42].
Anne Sisson Runyan and V. Spike Peterson, "The Radical Future of Realism:
Feminist Subversion of IR Theory," Alternatives (Winter 1991).
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