United Nations

A New Course in the World, a New Approach at the U.N.

Remarks as delivered by Amb. Susan E. Rice, U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, at New York University's Center for Global Affairs and Center on International Cooperation.

BY SUSAN E. RICE | AUGUST 13, 2009

A Sea Change in Food Aid?

World leaders are promising radical changes for food aid to the poorest countries. But can they deliver?

BY SIMON NICHOLSON | JULY 23, 2009

China's Black Cat, White Cat Diplomacy

Why Beijing is losing patience with its dysfunctional allies.

BY WEN LIAO | JULY 10, 2009

Seven Questions: José Ramos-Horta

East Timor's Nobel Prize-winning president asks, just who is the failed state here?

BY SIMON ROUGHNEEN | JULY 9, 2009

Minilateralism

The magic number to get real international action.

BY MOISÉS NAÍM | JULY/AUG 2009

Nowhere Man

Why Ban Ki-moon is the world's most dangerous Korean.

BY JACOB HEILBRUNN | JULY/AUG 2009

Some Disassembly Required

A bit of creative destruction might be just what the United Nations needs.

BY MATTHEW RUSSELL LEE | APRIL 21, 2009

Seven Questions: The United Nations Defends Its Role in Gaza

The U.N. Deputy High Commissioner on Human Rights says Israel is to blame.

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | JANUARY 9, 2009

How Humanitarian Intervention Failed the World

Conor Foley has a message for the international community: Humanitarian interventions rarely work. His recent book promoting that thesis, The Thin Blue Line, was reviewed by James Traub in Foreign Policy’s November/December 2008 issue. In this interview, Foley talks about Iraq, Darfur, and the conundrum of humanitarian reform.

NOVEMBER 1, 2008

A League of Their Own

Foreign-policy heavyweights on both the left and the right are calling for a new League of Democracies. One day, they say, it could replace the United Nations. But such a plan rests on the false assumption that democracies inherently work well together -- or that anyone besides the United States thinks it's a good idea.

BY THOMAS CAROTHERS | JUNE 16, 2008

The Second Sex

The world's most important body has yet to recognize the world's most important struggle: the fight for women's rights.

BY STEPHEN LEWIS | MARCH 31, 2007

Epiphanies: Hans Blix

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

Who Wins in Iraq?

Newspaper headlines consistently remind us of the failures coming out of Iraq. The number of U.S. soldiers who have lost their lives continues to climb. The deaths of Iraqi civilians far exceed what almost anyone expected. And insurgent attacks are growing stronger and more deadly. But, if wars always produce losers, it is also true that most wars have a fair share of winners, too. So, we would like to ask, four years into the fighting, what institutions, countries, ideas, or individuals are better off because of the war? Who, in essence, are Iraq's winners? Plus, a special essay by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

FEBRUARY 13, 2007

The FP Memo: Running the U.N.

If Ban Ki-Moon is to promote peace around the world, he'll have to get tough at headquarters. He should start by sacking useless employees and shaming the shameful.

BY JAMES TRAUB | DECEMBER 27, 2006

Costly Diplomacy

BY RYAN GAWN | AUGUST 8, 2006

The FP Memo: Damage Control

To regain control of American diplomacy, Condoleezza Rice must keep John Bolton in New York, place a mole in his office, and keep the vice president out of the loop.

BY BARBARA CROSSETTE | JUNE 6, 2006

The Oil Shield

Iran is commanding the world's attention as the ayatollahs accelerate their race for the bomb. But the timetable for talks -- or a nuclear crisis -- is not being shaped by centrifuges, uranium, or reactors. It's about the security only a barrel of oil can provide.

BY CHRISTOPHER DICKEY | APRIL 25, 2006

UNreformable?

AUGUST 30, 2005

The Bad Boys of Global Politics

John Bolton and Robert Mugabe might be the two best things to ever happen to the United Nations.

BY MOISÉS NAÍM | JULY 1, 2005

Sites Unseen

BY MARTA DE LA TORRE | MARCH 1, 2005

Africa Keeps Its Peace

BY DOUG BROOKS | JANUARY 5, 2005

Business as Usual at the U.N.

BY SAMANTHA POWER | SEPTEMBER 1, 2004

U.N. Security Council, Esq.

BY DAVID L. BOSCO | JULY 1, 2004

The FP Memo: A Strategy for Business and Human Rights

The United Nations has failed to produce a balanced set of enforceable rules to regulate the human rights impact of multinational corporations, squandering an opportunity to bolster public trust in globalization.

BY DANIEL LITVIN | NOVEMBER 1, 2003

Think Again: The United Nations

Bureaucratic. Ineffective. Undemocratic. Anti-United States. And after the bitter debate over the use of force in Iraq, critics might add "useless" to the list of adjectives describing the United Nations. So why was the United Nations the first place the Bush administration went for approval after winning the war? Because for $1.25 billion a year -- roughly what the Pentagon spends every 32 hours -- the United Nations is still the best investment that the world can make in stopping AIDS and SARS, feeding the poor, helping refugees, and fighting global crime and the spread of nuclear weapons.

BY MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT | SEPTEMBER 1, 2003

Mercy Killings

The United Nations can and should target dictators directly, instead of their peoples.

BY ANNE-MARIE SLAUGHTER | MAY 1, 2003

Citizen Diplomacy

BY CHRISTOPHER W. BISHOP | MARCH 1, 2003

Nation Building's New Face

BY MICHAEL BARNETT | NOVEMBER 1, 2002

Gallant Delusions

BY RUTH WEDGWOOD | SEPTEMBER 1, 2002