Politics And Process At The United Nations: The Global Dance

Smith (John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall U.) puts forward a framework for understanding the political dynamics at the United Nations. He begins with chapters describing the roles and powers of the most active UN actors: member states and their delegates, groups of states operating in concert, the UN's staff and the Secretary General, and representatives of civil society and the private sector. He then shifts his attention to the procedures and processes of the United Nations, examining in turn formal structures of decision-making, decision rules and parliamentary procedures, and informal networking. He then utilizes the insights of these chapters to describe how different actors attempt to wield influence based on their interests, their power, their personal attributes, and the arena in which the decision is being made. Finally, Smith concludes with a discussion of the actual impact of UN decisions, addressing the distinctions between implementation and compliance, the differences between binding and nonbonding decisions, time horizons for behavioral change, and the relationship between decision process and decision effectiveness. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR(