Global Policy Forum

This selective chronology lists dozens of UN reforms since Secretary General Boutros-Ghali took office in January 1992. Though far from comprehensive, the chronology covers the main events and trends. Pressures from Washington have dominated the reform process, but the overall results have included many positive developments as well as negative changes imposed on the UN by the superpower. (Global Policy Forum)

Comments by Global Policy Forum on the reform process and its protagonists

The nations in the G8 and G20 threaten the UN's role as the decision making body of all nations, rich as well as poor. Some argue that rich nations often prefer making decisions on their own, not including developing countries in the process. Since the G20 prevented an agreement on economic reform at the UN in June, some fear that the G8 will do the same at the UN Climate Conference in December. (un.org)

Pope Benedict XVI has called for reform of the United Nations as well as international bodies involved in economics and finance. According to the Pope, the current financial crisis has demonstrated that national governments don't have adequate control over the world's increasingly globalized and interdependent economy. He proposed a Social-Economic Council to complement the UN Security Council and to promote social justice and peaceful development.(Catholicleader)

Executive Director of Focus on the Global South Walden Bello spells out his vision for effective UN reform, in contrast to "what the United States government means by 'UN reform,' which means further eroding the capacities of the UN." Bello highlights the need to reform the basic power discrepancies that underlie all decisions made in the modern world system. In particular, Bello gives credence to the global peace movement, the global justice movement and Southern hemisphere governments and NGOs, who work to combat the US-dominated geopolitical strategies that in fact endanger international peace and security.

In this Guardian op-ed, former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook reflects on Kofi Annan's UN reform proposals and describes how Washington neo-conservatives continue to undermine any positive change at the world organization. He labels the US unilateralist position as "the solid concrete roadblock in the path of the Annan reforms" and defends the Secretary General against the "breathtaking hypocrisy" of US vilification over the oil-for-food scandal. Cook sees John Bolton's nomination as US ambassador to the UN as another example of Washington's "strategy of sabotage."

This comprehensive paper looks at preceding reform efforts of UN institutions from its 1945 founding conference in San Francisco to the 21st Century. The author argues that the key to UN reform lies in understanding why past initiatives have failed and how the strategies and tactics of achieving these could be improved. (Academic Council on the United Nation System)

Research paper written by Grace Roosevelt on the history of Pacifism and Just War Theory in Europe from the 16th to the 20th Centuries.

The Dag Hammarskjold Foundation and the Ford Foundation jointly published this report in 1994. Written by Erskine Childers and Brian Urquhart, two very keen and articulate former UN officials, it is widely considered the best overall statement on UN reform. This link posts a substantial unofficial summary of the report, produced in Canada. See also Childers/Urquhart summary proposals to reform the Secretary General election process.