Mend it, Don't End It: The Sad Story of the United Nations
Over a decade ago it was generally expected that the end of the Cold War would usher in the revival of the United Nations. At that time the U.N. negotiated a string of settlements that resolved conflicts between Iran and Iraq, incited the removal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan, and ended El Salvador's chronic civil war. This short window of success inspired the view that it was the Cold War that had prohibited the United Nations from being a valuable world mediator. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the new Secretary-General, exhorted member-nations to seize this "extraordinary opportunity" to activate long-moribund provisions of the U.N. Charter. Similarly, columnist Morton Kondracke observed, "the United Nations is suddenly alive again and doing useful work." Today, that false hope has lost much of its luster. The U.N. of the 21st Century is fraught with financial shortfalls and an overstretched peacekeeping force that prevent the global body from achieving its objectives. Clearly, then, the United Nations needs reform. A broadbased overhaul of U.N. financial policies and practices must be executed. For much of its history, the United Nations has been plagued by fraud, waste, and overgrown bureaucracy. Exactly how much fiscal dece
Since the inception of the United Nations in 1945, great changes have arisen in the international community. Accordingly, the U.N. is in need of appropriate and extensive reforms in order to adapt to the changes and problems of a more interdependent world. In particular, refinement of U.N. financial and peacekeeping strategies is essential. Even still, the U.N. is only as effective as its members want it to be, and the adoption of these widespread reforms will require multinational support. If successful, such an initiative has the potential to further U.N. influence in global mediation and conflict resolution as never before. The future of world peace hangs in the balance. it exists cannot be answered with precision as the U.N. has never subjected itself to a comprehensive audit. Anxious that such crises might agitate an already inflamed budget, the General Assembly has voted to freeze U.N. expenditures at about $2.6 billion for the past six years. After accounting for inflation and unpaid dues by every member-state but one, this means that the U.N. is grossly underfunded. American arrears amount to over $1.69 billion, one-third of the U.N.'s budget. In 1995, the GOP-controlled Congress brazenly slashed its 31% share of U.N. finances to 25%, a move British Foreign Minister Rifkind deemed "representation without taxation." Such financial malaise prevent
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 921
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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