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Recovery and Renewal at the UN

Oct 23, 2020 Madeleine Albright , Ibrahim Gambari

Rising nationalism raises a significant risk that the UN system’s structure and institutions, essential but in need of repair and rejuvenation, may instead be left to decline, decay, and even collapse. Such an outcome would be tragic, not just for those institutions but for all of humanity.

NEW YORK – The international community urgently needs new tools, ideas, and initiatives to meet the common threats and challenges faced by the United Nations’ 193 member countries. The world body’s 75th anniversary, to be marked on United Nations Day on October 24, presents an opportunity to chart a path to the partnerships we need to meet the challenges we will face in the years and decades to come. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic – the costliest and most far-reaching crisis since World War II – the need for institutional renewal and recovery is obvious.

Among the most ominous threats and challenges, beyond pandemic disease, are a rapidly changing global climate, violent conflict and large-scale displacement in fragile states, and sophisticated cyber-attacks. What these challenges have in common is that they are beyond the ability of any country to resolve on its own. International cooperation is crucial, but that cooperation is being jeopardized by a resurgence in nationalism which threatens the very structure of the international order built three-quarters of a century ago.

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Madeleine Albright

Writing for PS since 2020
1 Commentary

Madeleine Albright, a former US secretary of state and ambassador to the United Nations, is a former co-chair of the Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance.

Ibrahim Gambari

Writing for PS since 2020
1 Commentary

Ibrahim Gambari, a former Nigerian foreign minister and ambassador to the United Nations, is a former co-chair of the Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance.

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 19 in all 19 Comments on this article

william etheridge Oct 28, 2020

Heart is in right place here.
But it’s not hard. The main problems.
Simply that a number of important national players are – by and large - openly opposed to a transparent honest rule of law and truth based liberal global order.
Like when the UN was born.
And despite the self evident benefits of such an order, especially for the poorest.
It’s ironic of course that China’s pathbreaking reforms from c1980 borrowed mainly from… the naughty West! From the noxious liberal order, ie freer markets and private property.
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Michael Public Oct 26, 2020

There are rules and there are enforcement of rules. The issue is that the USA, China and Russia (to single out the nuclear armed bullies) have no qualms flouting whatever rules are set in any forum. As there is no one to hold them in line - the rules are of no benefit.
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Victor Kamendrowsky Oct 26, 2020

Yes, we desperately need enlightened leadership, but the term "Global Governance" dooms the discussion even before it starts. Get real!
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Robert Johnston Oct 25, 2020

It is disheartening, even incomprehensible, to see such a "distinguished" panel, and such a huge effort at "consultation", almost totally ignore the UN nations' own goals for global development, the Sustainable Development Goals, agreed by UN members, not a self-appointed elite, and far more detailed than the anodyne cliches of the long-standing ineffective discourse on global institutions. Little or nothing is said about internatioinalizing international governance and programs to address the defining challenges of the moment, the pandemic, climate and unequal development, or to articulate them with the agreed SDGs and their far more specific agenda. Panel member Brundtland for example, former head of WHO, should understand the near-fatal weaknesses of that organization in the face of the pandemic, the potential seriousness of which was well understood even during her own tenure, to no effect. Similar and worse program ineffectiveness prevails in institutions dedicated, on paper, to climate change and development, but nearly totally lacking in serious operational programs.
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nigel southway Oct 25, 2020

The UN must die.... its no use to the west any more and has become the political tool of the limp wristed global left
- P. Kamath Nov 8, 2020
  
  Nigel: Didn’t I tell you that you hero Donald Trump would end up on his rump . You didn’t believe that and his other admirers like “Con”rad Black will also be gone too! It is a matter of time whereas you will be pretty safe in Canada! Have a nice day!
  - nigel southway Nov 8, 2020
    
    Look Matey…its not over yet... vote fraud is a terrible thing... and even if 50% of the people don’t get the leader they voted for the policies he spearheaded will not be changed by the weak alternative ... About the only policy that will be reinstalled is the myth of climate change that will not fly far. Trump did his job even if he ends his effort now. He has raised the flag on uncontrolled Globalism and immigration. It will stay up for sure.
    - P. Kamath Nov 8, 2020
      
      Yes, wait comfortably in your La-La land and dream on in technicolor. BTW, Don’t forget to wear your mask,🤫
      - nigel southway Nov 9, 2020
        
        What is your point..?.. am i supposed to be concerned?... We have 50% of the population most with guns that will be more concerned.
        
        P. Kamath Nov 9, 2020
        
        Good answer: Let us have a good breakfast and not worry about everything else except how to make an honest livelihood. One can’t eat bullets for dinner. So have a good day!
        
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- Mirek Fatyga Oct 25, 2020
  
  you got yourself a fallout shelter?
  - nigel southway Oct 26, 2020
    
    Is that what they do?... build shelters?
    - Mirek Fatyga Oct 26, 2020
      
      no, this is what you will need to build. Start now, time is running out.
      - nigel southway Oct 26, 2020
        
        I was joking.... but its not my job to police the rest of the world.... Trump is right... just make sure our stuff is bigger and better and use it if they step out of line.
        
        Mirek Fatyga Oct 26, 2020
        
        let me just say something briefly here, without joking.
        
        The US has never been the "policeman of the world". This is a fantasy of sorts that some Americans have been indulging in lately, or maybe even not so lately. The US was the leader of the free world. I grew up in the unfree part of the world, and none of us expected the US to send in the troops to "liberate" us. What we wanted was a positive example and moral support. I might add that, in retrospect, the US was a highly imperfect, almost accidental leader of the free world ,which is showing now, but this is another, broad subject.
        
        The US ceased to be the leader of the free world with the invasion of Iraq. This was a clear, imperial power play, undertaken with malice of intent, opposed by most of the world, undertaken at the time when US became the sole military superpower, and for the purpose of cementing this status through control of the dominant source of oil supply to the world. If you were alive and sentient at that time, particularly with some experience in recognizing state propaganda campaigns, you had no doubt.
        
        The first quarter of this century was the consequence of this action.
        
        What you have now is almost the worst of all possible worlds, the worst being an actual, all out war. The system of alliances that the US built to stabilize the world without new all out wars is disintegrating. We are left with spheres of influence on the boundaries of which the large military powers jockey for advantage, threaten one another and periodically clash. The world had such a system before. It disintegrated in 1914 into two world wars, which was really one war, separated by a temporary suspension of hostilities. These two wars killed ~ 100 million people and produced nuclear weapons. In the next round, 1 - 2 billion may be a more plausible number.
        
        nigel southway Oct 26, 2020
        
        This comment was removed by a moderator. Replies to this comment may also be deleted. Please note that we moderate comments to ensure the conversation remains topically relevant. We appreciate well-informed comments and welcome your criticism and insight. Please be civil and avoid name-calling and ad hominem remarks.
        
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j. von Hettlingen Oct 24, 2020

Madeleine Albright and Ibrahim Gambari say when their Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance presented their report - Confronting the Crisis of Global Goernance - in 2015 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the United Nations, it “foreshadowed the return of virulent nationalism, fueled by surging migration, economic inequality.” Back then as today, leaders “dehumanize others and seek to divide rather than unite.” Today, such headlines no longer raise an eyebrow and trendlines show an upward direction.
According to the authors, “enlightened leadership is needed more than ever, supported by ideas and political pressure from civil society worldwide. By reviving cooperation to meet today’s many challenges, we can ensure that ‘the future we want,’ for today’s younger generation and all future generations, becomes the future we get.” If nothing is done to salvage the world body, “the UN system’s structure and institutions, essential but in need of repair and rejuvenation, may instead be left to decline, decay, and even collapse. Such an outcome would be tragic, not just for those institutions but for all of humanity.”
Despite the - what critics say - existential crisis the UN faces, there is still hope for “recovery” and “renewal.” The authors are determined to “help promote cooperative responses to today’s most pressing global problems,” and eager to back “the Roadmap for the Future We Want & UN We Need, presented last month to the President of the UN General Assembly at the UN75 Global Governance Forum.” From their own experience they know “that original ideas from external stakeholders can help move complex multilateral organizations toward positive-sum outcomes.”
Despite efforts to bolster multilateralism, the current pandemic risks to destroy the very idea of international solidarity and unity. Many countries are locked into a destructive zero-sum contest - vaccine nationalism and protectionism - that has fractured the post-war global system and diminished the UN’s capacity for collective action. The very premises of the multilateral world order upon which the UN was founded, are now falling apart.
Trump has thrown a wrecking ball at multilateralism, from weakening the WTO and NATO to pulling the US out of international agreements - the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. Critics say the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and several UN organisations, such as the World Health Organization may be a harbinger of a broader unraveling of the system painstakingly constructed by the US after World War II. At present, climate change is a pressing issue and requires global commitment to a common effort to tackle it.
In connection with the United Nations 75th anniversary, the world body has presented a roadmap for the future. Its UN75 Global Governance Forum seeks to promote a more inclusive and effective world body through dialogue and recommendations that better harness the ideas, capabilities, and networks of both state and non-state actors for achieving the UN’s commitment to peace, sustainable development, human rights, and a stable climate.
The authors say they “also advocate a World Summit on Inclusive Global Governance, as called for in the Stimson Center’s recent “UN 2.0” report. To be held by September 2023, the summit would seek to upgrade and equip the global governance system to address major issues facing the international community, and to usher in a new compact with citizens to enhance and rebuild confidence in their multilateral institutions.”
It seems Covid-19 will have a lasting impact on us, and it takes time for the economy to recover. “In the lead-up to this 2023 leaders’ meeting, two G20 Summits, akin to those held in London and Pittsburgh to chart a way forward from the 2008 global financial crisis, should be convened in 2021, focusing on coordinated macroeconomic, social, and environmental policies to promote a durable recovery from COVID-19.”
To be sure, the UN is still doing vital work around the world. The problem is how to persuade member states to contribute to the world body’s budget. Although the world is struggling to manage its most pressing existential risk, sadly many countries put national interests before the global common good. Hence it is no surprise that the UN and its organisations are gridlocked in reforms that are urgently required to move forward. Above all the Security Council - stalemated by fundamental differences among its five permanent members - needs to reflect the geopolitical reality and meet the needs of the twentieth-century.
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Edwin Hoffman Oct 24, 2020

Why didn’t this work before, and why should we expect such lofty ideals to triumph again, especially at the behest of the legacy power brokers? Also, will Luciferianism continue to have a seat at the table? The whole thing looks like an international crime syndicate run by antique occultists. Why not scrap it and create a global council of the brightest minds to actually advance humanity instead of the deepest pockets hell-bent on enslaving it? Has there been any work done to identify who is exploiting the current health crisis, which actually amounts to nothing less than global medical malpractice. It’s not the ordinary citizens who need to reset their way of life, it’s the billionaire and trillionaire psychopaths who do. It’s time to make clinical psychopathy a disqualifying factor for public service.
- Michael Public Oct 26, 2020
  
  "Why not scrap it and create a global council of the brightest minds to actually advance humanity instead of the deepest pockets hell-bent on enslaving it?"
  Zero chance. If you are a bright, independent thinker they will attack you, defund you or even just take you out. It does not matter if you swing left or right politically if you threaten established power structures. See Jordan Peterson, just by way of a single example. Those kept are the payroll are generally spineless, faceless, heartless, thoughtless yes-men who serve only power and filthy lucre. Posting in the comments does nothing to change that.
  - Edwin Hoffman Oct 26, 2020
    
    What does? I doubt silence. You know they feed on despair.
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