Since its inception in 1945, the United Nations has had a powerful but controversial influence on global politics. In this well-written and informative guide, Norrie MacQueen provides a clear introduction to its institutions, remit, personalities, and role in the modern world. Defending it from common criticisms of bureaucratic paralysis and bias towards the developed world, MacQueen argues that its limitations are due to the complex web of national interests that it seeks to reconcile.

Europe’s rapacious hunger for other people’s lands is one of the key shaping forces of our contemporary world. Everything is touched by our colonial past, from the way we see the world to the food we eat. Our contemporary preoccupations and ills – from globalization to humanitarian intervention to international terrorism – have colonialism somewhere in their genetic make-up.The character and policies of contemporary international organizations – from the United Nations to the Europ...

United Nations Peacekeeping in Africa provides an exploration of United Nations military intervention in Africa, from its beginnings in the Congo in 1960 to the new operations of the twenty-first century.The scene is set by an examination of the theoretical bases both of United Nations peacekeeping and of Africa’s post-independence politics and international relations. The peacekeeping project in Africa is then described on a region by region basis – Central Africa, Southe...

This is the first introduction to the United Nation's activities during the Cold War period. It combines a history of the UN with a broader account of east-west diplomacy during the Cold War and after. Norrie MacQueen begins by looking at the formation, structure and functions of the UN. Then, within a chronological framework, he assesses its contribution to international security from the emergence of the UN's peacekeeping role in 1945-56 right through to UN operations in the 1990s in Ang...

The Oxford Handbook on United Nations Peacekeeping Operations presents an innovative, authoritative, and accessible examination and critique of the United Nations peacekeeping operations. Since the late 1940s, but particularly since the end of the cold war, peacekeeping has been a central part of the core activities of the United Nations and a major process in global security governance and the management of international relations in general. The volume will present a chronologic...

A comprehensive, clearly presented and accessible text covering the totality of the peacekeeping experience since the early twentieth century.This is essential reading for all undergraduates on politics, international relations and contemporary history programmes. It is also an excellent resource for taught postgraduate courses in these subject areas.The narrative is primarily chronological; key themes such as legality and 'collective security' are traced throughout. The ch...

Since its inception in 1945, the United Nations has had a powerful but controversial influence on global politics. In this informative guide, Norrie MacQueen provides a clear introduction to its institutions, remit, personalities, and role in the modern world. Defending the UN from common criticisms of bureaucratic paralysis and bias towards the developed world, MacQueen argues that its limitations are due to the complex web of national interests that it seeks to reconcile, and that despit...

The United Nations has been called everything from "the best hope of mankind" to "irrelevant" and "obsolete." With this much-needed introduction to the UN, Jussi Hanhimäki engages the current debate over the organizations effectiveness as he provides a clear understanding of how it was originally conceived, how it has come to its present form, and how it must confront new challenges in a rapidly changing world. After a brief history of the United Nations and its predecessor, the League of ...

I congratulate Andebrhan Welde Giorgis on his high-quality and extremely informative book that has not only the merit to be an update on the political situation in Eritrea but also asks the pertinent questions on the future of his marvelous country. He does it with tact and success, based on his long experience as freedom fighter, as senior public servant, as Ambassador and his rich experience of Africa.----Each country in Africa must be able to determine its own future. Freedom, responsib...

Taking an historical approach, Dr. Ryan explores both how the UN has affected world politics and how the international political system has formed and limited the work of the Organization. The book looks at why the UN was created, how it was affected by the Cold War and how successive Secretaries-General struggled to find a role for themselves. We see how negative and even hostile views of the UN were changed by the end of the Cold War and by the UN-sponsored action in the Gulf, why the U...

What would the world look like if America were to reduce its role as a global leader in order to focus all its energies on solving its problems at home? And is America really in decline? Robert Kagan, New York Times best-selling author and one of the country’s most influential strategic thinkers, paints a vivid, alarming picture of what the world might look like if the United States were truly to let its influence wane.Although Kagan asserts that much of the current pessim...