In the second issues of the International Review of Contemporary Law, dedicated to the 70th Anniversary of the United Nations Charter, Phyllis Bennis writes about the need for a more empowered and democratized UN in a world immersed in multiple, interconnected, urgent global crises.
“Those crises — military escalations, climate chaos, collapse of the social fabric, violations of international law, weakening of UN institutions, sidelining of the rule of law and many more — demand an empowered and democratized United Nations, but such a goal remains increasingly out of reach,” she writes.
“The legacies of domination by the U.S., privileging of the five permanent members of the Security Council and their veto power, the welcoming of profit-driven and often profiteering corporations to partnerships with every UN agency and to the highest echelons of UN decision-making all remain largely unchallenged. Seventy years after the founding of the global organization, the UN remains caught between the demands of power and democracy.”
Her analysis of the issues with the UN — including examples like the Paris Climate Talks and the so-called Global War on Terror — includes short, medium, and long term solutions to reclaim the centrality and legitimacy of the institution as part of a truly internationalist second super-power.