The ironies of un secretariat reform

Global Governance

Volumn 13, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 151-159

  Fröhlich, Manuel ^a,b  

^a FRIEDRICH SCHILLER UNIVERSITY JENA   (Germany)

^b Research Council   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 34250719259     PISSN: 10752846     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/19426720-01302001     Document Type: Review

References (45)

1. Dag Hammarskjöld, "Introduction to the Sixteenth Annual Report," in Andrew W. Cordier and Wilder Foote, eds., Public Papers of the Secretaries-General of the United Nations, vol. 5: Dag Hammarskjöld 1960-1961 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975), p. 542.
2. See also Manuel Fröhlich, "The Quest for a Political Philosophy of World Organization," in Sten Ask and Anna Mark-Jungkvist, eds., The Adventure of Peace: Dag Hammarskjöld and the Future of the UN (New York: Palgrave, 2005), pp. 130-145.
3. UN Doc. SG/SM/10369, 7 March 2006.
4. See Kofi Annan, Investing in the United Nations for a Stronger Organization Worldwide. Report of the Secretary-General (New York: United Nations, March 2006), par. 4.
5. Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme, The Management of the United Nations Oil-For-Food Programme, vol. 1: The Report of the Committee, 1 September 2005, p. 4.
6. UN Doc. A/59/661, 5 January 2005.
7. See the Debate in the Security Council on this issue in UN Doc. S/PV.5376, 22 February 2006.
8. UN Doc. A/60/L.1, 15 September 2005, par. 161.
9. See, for example, Benjamin Rivlin and Leon Gordenker, The Challenging Role of the UN Secretary-General: Making "The Most Impossible Job in the World" Possible (Westport, CT: Prager, 1993);
10. Edward Newman, The UN Secretary-General from the Cold War to a New Era: A Global Peace and Security Mandate? (Houndmills/London: Macmillan, 1998).
11. On the Secretariat, see, for example, Leon Gordenker, The UN Secretary-General and Secretariat (London: Routledge, 2005);
12. Manuel Fröhlich, "Zwischen Verwaltung und Politik: Die Arbeit des UN-Sekretariats," in Klaus Dicke and Manuel Fröhlich, eds., Wege multilateraler Diplomatie. Politik, Handlungsmöglichkeiten und Entscheidungsstrukturen im UN-System (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2005), pp. 41-63.
13. For an overview, see Edward C. Luck, Reforming the United Nations: Lessons from a History in Progress (New Haven: Academic Council on the United Nations System, 2003).
14. See, for example, Jesse Helms, "Saving the UN: A Challenge to the Next Secretary-General" Foreign Affairs 57, no. 5 (1996): 3-7, relating to Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
15. See also the reform dossier published by the Secretariat, at http://157.150 .195.47/reform/dossier.html; and Mohamad Tal, United Nations Management Reform: A Perspective, June 2006, at www.globalpolicy.org.
16. UN Doc. A/51/950, 14 July 1997; and UN Doc. A/57/387, 9 September 2002.
17. Starting in 2005, the rather big group has been supplemented by two more flexible committees on policy and management.
18. UN Doc. A/52/12, 19 December 1997.
19. See John Gerard Ruggie, "The United Nations and Globalization: Patterns and Limits of Institutional Adaptation," Global Governance 9, no. 3 (2003): 301-321.
20. United States Government Accountability Office, United Nations: Reforms Progressing, but Comprehensive Assessments Needed to Measure Impact (Washington, DC: US Government Accountability Office, February 2004).
21. See the full report, at www.iic-offp.org.
22. Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme, press release, 7 September 2005, p. 2.
23. Independent Inquiry Committee, The Management of the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme, p. 70.
24. Ibid., p. 13.
25. Ibid., p. 58.
26. Kofi Annan, Investing in the United Nations for a Stronger Organization Worldwide, par. 9.
27. Ibid., p. ii.
28. See the status overview as of 27 January 2006, at http://157.150.195.47/ reform/mru.html.
29. For documentation, see www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/ctte/SEA.htm.
30. Kofi Annan, Investing in the United Nations for a Stronger Organization Worldwide, par. 65.
31. For further details, see UN Doc. A/60/568, 28 November 2005, Appendix A.
32. Independent Inquiry Committee, The Management of the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme, p. 5.
33. Brian Urquhart, "The UN Oil-for-Food Program: Who Is Guilty?" New York Review of Books 53, no. 2 (9 February 2006): 49.
34. See the report of the Fifth Committee, UN Doc. A/60/831 and UN Doc. A/60/Res/260, 16 May 2006.
35. Cited in Thalif Deen, "Rich vs. Poor in Power Struggle, Says Top UN Official," Inter Press Service, 5 June 2006, at www.ipsnews.net.
36. Kofi Annan, Investing in the United Nations for a Stronger Organization Worldwide, par. 15.
37. See, for example, Karl Theodor Paschke, "UN Reform - die unendliche Geschichte," Vereinte Nationen 53, no. 5 (2005): 170-173.
38. "Blocking Reform at the U.N.," New York Times, 2 December 2005, p. 29.
39. The replacement of the Human Rights Commission by the Human Rights Council is a rare exception to this rule.
40. Even the newly established Independent Audit Advisory Committee is a case in point, since it partly duplicates the task of the already existing Board of Auditors, installed, together with the Joint Inspection Unit, as early as 1946 and (as argued by the IIC) equipped with a mandate that could have been employed to play a more significant role.
41. For the US position, see the list of the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard G. Lugar, "U.N. Reform," Washington Times, 5 February 2006, p. B1.
42. UN Doc. A/C.5/60/L.67, 7 July 2006.
43. Ibid., par. 8.
44. See also Simon Chesterman, "Great Expectations: UN Reform and the Role of the Secretary-General," Security Dialogue 36, no. 3 (September 2005): 375;
45. Edward C. Luck, "How Not to Reform the United Nations," Global Governance 11, no. 4 (2005): 407-411, who - against the background of multilateral dynamics at the UN - argues for a concentration on "modest and sensible renovations" as an adequate reform strategy (p. 407).