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UN Performance Problems UN Management Accountability Struggles Where is the Rule of Law? Inadequate UN Oversight Recent Developments
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A recent article by Iqbal Quadir illustrates why the idea of
the UN leadership role for the world must be challenged in
the 21st century. He focused on the way in which modern information and
communication technologies (ICTs) are generating profound changes in
advanced countries, and can facilitate them in poor countries as
well. He felt that the real
bottleneck blocking processes -- such as ICTs -- that may transform
societies in developing countries is the quality of general
governance. He observed
that: "Despite an increase in
professional institutions and multilateral organizations promoting
international norms of behavior … Transparency International … [cites] 'a
worldwide crisis involving pervasive misuse of power by public officials.'
… … top-down state-led efforts have,
by and large, failed … [because they] all involved strengthening the
state, centralizing it, and making it immune to pressures from citizens …
… recognition of governance
problems [by the World Bank and the UN] may do little good … [without]
genuine dispersion of power. … Most interestingly, governments
may … [have to accept] ideas and concepts that … compete with the concept
of territory on which they place their strongest claims.
… ICT's empower from below while
devolving power from above, resulting in a two-pronged attack on abuse of
state power that has left so much of the world's population languishing in
poverty.
What can be done to sustain this
trend? … Promote tailwinds to these technologically driven … processes
that are empowering citizens … Empower commercial and social entrepreneurs
… ICT's can help people [to help others] directly, without the need to
have state-to-state intermediaries.
… ICTs can be the means to freedom and development by blindsiding
the obstacles to both." Iqbal Z. Quadir, "The bottleneck is at the top of the bottle", Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, vol. 26:2, Summer/Fall 2002, pp. 69-89 [73. 75, 77,83m 87-88.] [Note: Mr. Quadir is the founder of Grameen Phone in Bangladesh.] Three quotes help
illustrate just how much of a bottleneck the UN and its decision-making
processes are to global governance solutions: the first on continual UN
decision-making disputes and disorder, the second on the UN's lack of
structure and process to address pressing modern questions, and the third
a harsh recent assessment from Secretary-General Annan
himself. "Secretary-General Kofi Annan's
plans to make major changes in the way the United Nations works have run
into serious trouble in General Assembly committees, where they are being
buried in a blizzard of questions and objections. … the measures -- totaling more
than 70 large and small ones … are being dissected by national
delegations. The fate of Mr. Annan's plans,
which critics in Congress have dismissed as not bold enough, will reflect
on [his] reputation as an insider who knows how to get things done.
… … what is happening now in the
General Assembly shows the near-impossibility of quick action from the
185-member body, where every proposal is scrutinized for any number of
reasons by one or more national delegations or groups of countries. …
… Pakistan's representative … said
… that there 'wide divergences' among countries on the dozens of measures
they are considering." "UN
leader's grand plans for reform hit obstacles," International Herald
Tribune, November 3, 1997. "Challenges that must be globally
managed keep popping up: genetic engineering, AIDS, and global terrorist
networks. Yet … the global
landscape has dramatically changed in the last 50 years, but the
institutions serving the world have not. The array of institutions is
bewildering. Within the U. N.
system alone, there are 112 agencies. More than 20 agencies deal with
water, for example. …. Functions overlap, mandates
conflict, and each agency has its own standard of accountability, [or
unaccountability] to member governments. …. The institutions cannot reform
themselves. Two generations
of institutional contamination and tenured self-interest ensure that this
deadlock continues. But this
lack of coherence damages their collective credibility, frustrates their
donors and owners, and gives rise to public cynicism. There is a consensus that
something must be done, but no consensus on how to go about
it." Mike Moore, "Multilateral meltdown", Foreign Policy, March/April 2003, pp. 74-75. [Note: Mr. Moore was Director General of the World Trade Organization from 1999 to 2002 and a former Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is the author of A world without walls: Freedom, development, free trade, and global governance, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK, 2003.] ""Secretary-General Kofi Annan
said Monday that the United Nations must consider sweeping reforms in the
wake of the Iraq war and warned that the organization had lost the
confidence of many across the globe. In unusually strong language that
reflected strains over the crisis in Baghdad, Annan suggested that the
credibility of the Security Council, the General Assembly, and other UN
bodies was at stake. 'If they are to regain their
authority, they may need radical reform,' Annan said before making public
his report on the organization's future. 'We can no longer take it for
granted that our multilateral institutions are strong enough to cope with
all these challenges,' Annan wrote, saying UN members should ask
themselves whether the existing structure is 'adequate for the task we have
before us.' … He also criticized the 191-member
General Assembly for lacking priorities, the Security Council for being
undemocratic, the UN trusteeship Council for failing to perform, and
financial institutions for not adequately involving the developing nations
the measures are meant to serve."
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