ConUNdrum: The Limits of the United Nations and the Search for Alternatives - Tapa dura

The United States has a large foreign policy tool box. The U.N. is just one implement. But there are times the U.N. can be very useful. Therefore the serious discussion of the U.N.'s mischief and promise in ConUNdrum is worthwhile reading for foreign policy scholars and practitioners. It contains many hard earned insights and ideas for reform. -- Richard S. Williamson, Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs 'Multilateralism' is the buzzword of the Obama Administration's foreign policy. In this wide-ranging collection of essays, America's leading experts on multilateralism-John Bolton, David Rivkin, and Kim Holmes among them-explain the uses and, more often, misuses of multilateralism as a tool of American statecraft. Invaluable. -- Bret Stephens, foreign affairs columnist, Wall Street Journal ConUNdrum offers not only a smart analysis of how to think about the U.N. but also fresh ideas for how to help reform it to better advance peace and security, human rights and prosperity-all core American interests. -- Peter Brooks, former deputy assistant secretary of defense * Townhall, October 2009 * Conundrum advocates smarter global engagement, using the U.N. when possible and seeking alternatives when necessary. A worthy volume..... * The Washington Times, December 2009 * A timely analysis of the UN's past and present effectiveness, which postulates how that reform may take place. Despite its reformative emphasis, the authors of the ten essays in ConUNdrum have thankfully avoided merely pointing the finger at UN officials. . . . ConUNdrum is a provocative book. It needs to be. * Rusi, March 2010 * Conundrum advocates smarter global engagement, using the U.N. when possible and seeking alternatives when necessary. A worthy volume. * The Washington Times, December 2009 * Kim Holmes makes a striking contribution....One theme that unites the volume is the need for the United States to work more closely with other democracies inside and outside the UN to isolate despotic states while giving greater voice to the American values of markets and freedom. * Foreign Affairs * Here is the most practical and constructive array of proposals for U.N. betterment yet produced. Many of the best ideas don't stand a chance of getting through those Member States who thrive on bad international bureaucracy and can block reform. But every page of this volume can be cited to encourage U.N. improvement or shame the entrenched defenders of the status quo. This is no hatchet job but the most responsible collection of fresh ideas for the World Organization ever gathered between two covers. -- Charles Hill, Diplomat-in-residence and lecturer in international studies, Yale University

This book examines the broad range of social, political, economic and security issues addressed by the United Nations and experts comment on strengths and weaknesses of the current system in addressing those concerns. The U.N. has a long history of ineffectively handing the world's most critical problems-such as war, terrorism, genocide, poverty and pandemics-and scholars discuss ways to fundamentally reform the current international system to maximize international efforts to address global problems.