„Alas, Thomas Weiss has written a very good book - he makesclear how badly the UN is broken.“
Economic and Political Weekly
"By any standard, this is a work of unusual ambition, scope, andinsight. Only Tom Weiss, one of the UN's most prolific andexperienced observers, could so adroitly capture the worldbody's perils and promise with such a winning combination ofclarity, rigor, and wisdom.„
Edward C. Luck, Special Adviser to the UNSecretary-General
“A comprehensive and extremely thoughtful analysis by theleading scholar of the UN in the United States, this should be onthe required reading list for the US president, and the leaders ofother nations as well.„
Craig N. Murphy, Wellesley College and University ofMassachusetts Boston
“This is a very timely book, given the broad spectrum ofgrowing difficulties facing the international system and the UnitedNations. It provides an analytically powerful and empirically richaccount of a UN in crisis, followed by a range of sensiblesuggestions to place the world organization on a more sound footingin its address of deepening challenges. It speaks to issues ofprofound scholarly and policy relevance in a way that is eminentlyaccessible to a wide range of readers.
S. Neil MacFarlane, St Anne's College, University ofOxford
What's Wrong with the United Nations and How to Fix it
von Thomas G. Weiss, Vorwort von Brian UrquhartBut what exactly is wrong with the UN, and how can we fix it? Is itpossible to retrofit the world body? In his succinct andhard-hitting analysis, Thomas G. Weiss takes a diagnose-and-cureapproach to the world organization's inherent difficulties. In the first half of the book, he considers: the problems ofinternational leadership and decision making in a world ofself-interested states; the diplomatic difficulties caused by theartificial divisions between the industrialized North and theglobal South; the structural problems of managing the UN'smany overlapping jurisdictions, agencies, and bodies; and thechallenges of bureaucracy and leadership. The second half shows howto mitigate these maladies and points the way to a world in whichthe UN's institutional ills might be „cured.“ Hisremedies are not based on pious hopes of a miracle cure for the UN, but rather on specific and encouraging examples that could bereplicated. With considered optimism and in contrast to receivedwisdom, Weiss contends that substantial change in intergovernmentalinstitutions is plausible and possible.
The new and expanded second edition of this well-regarded andindispensable book will continue to spark debate amongst students, scholars, and policymakers concerned with international politics, as well as anyone genuinely interested in the future of the UnitedNations and multilateral cooperation.
