The United Nations Alternative

Abstract

During the 1980s the United Nations touched the nadir of its fortunes: the big powers treated it with indifference and sometimes contempt while the United States and others withheld the bulk of their dues; corruption scandals from the Waldheim years and an overpaid bureaucracy whose greed for place and money far outdid its competence in performance tarnished its image; and its inability to resolve problems because the permanent members of the Security Council would not provide it with the means or authority to do so threatened to destroy it in much the same way as its predecessor, the League of Nations, had been destroyed. In 1985 the fact that the United Nations was still in being to celebrate 40 years of existence was itself seen as something of a triumph. Then came the end of the Cold War and the United Nations was fashionable again. The constant threat of a Soviet or Western veto was removed and President Bush suddenly saw the world body as a useful ally in promoting American global policies.