United Nations Reform: A Strategy of Avoidance

Abstract

The history of the United Nations is punctuated all along with proposals for reform. Starting in the 1950s, every five or six years the fever strikes: there is talk of reorganizing the Secretariat,¹ changing the procedures of the General Assembly, reviewing the composition of the Security Council and its decision-making process,² strengthening the system’s capacity in matters of development,³ revitalizing ECOSOC. Committees and groups of experts are created (many of which forget to dissolve and endure through mere self-reproduction), reports are published, the world of the United Nations quivers and university scholars add papers to their list of publications. These occasionally result in marginal adjustments that create an illusion of progress without fundamentally altering the state of affairs.