The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations [Hardcover]

Paul Kennedy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 20, 2006

“With all its defects, with all the failures that we can check up against it, the UN still represents man’s best-organized hope to substitute the conference table for the battlefield.”
–Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961

The signing of the United Nations Charter in 1945 was an unprecedented development in the history of humankind. For the first time, the world’s most powerful sovereign nation states came together to create an autonomous organization designed to, in the Charter’s words, “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war [and] reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights.” Sixty years later, the UN still doggedly pursues that mandate, albeit not without difficulty and certainly not without criticism.

In The Parliament of Man, the distinguished scholar Paul Kennedy gives a thorough and timely history of the United Nations that explains the institution’s roots and functions while also casting an objective eye on the UN’s effectiveness as a body and on its prospects for success in meeting the challenges that lie ahead.

Building on expertise he gained in drafting official reports for the UN’s fiftieth anniversary on how to improve the organization’s performance, Kennedy makes sense of the many commissions and committees, and how its six main operating bodies–General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council (UNESCO), Trusteeship Council, Secretariat, and International Court–operate and interact. Citing examples from the UN’s history, he shows how the five permanent members of the Security Council–the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, and France–on numerous occasions overcame political antagonisms to spearhead military supervision of aid in humanitarian crises, and how lack of cooperation among the great powers has hamstrung such initiatives as the control of greenhouse gas emissions and exacerbated the deleterious effects of globalization on developing nations’ economies.

As a body, the UN emerges here for what it is: fallible, human-based, oftentimes dependent on the whims of powerful national governments or the foibles of individual senior UN administrators, but utterly indispensable. In The Parliament of Man, Kennedy ably proves that “it is difficult to imagine how much more riven and ruinous our world of six billion people would be if there had been no UN social, environmental, and cultural agendas–and no institutions to attempt to put them into practice on the ground.”

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Historian and political commentator Kennedy here turns his attention to the United Nations, an institution he believes, with reform and sustained effort, can make serious headway in addressing the kinds of problems he documented in Preparing for the Twenty-First Century. The core of the book-six broad and insightful mini-histories of the last sixty years of global security; peacekeeping efforts; economic development; environmental, social, and cultural advancement; human rights; and the creation of an international civil society-is grounded by a strong opening account of the historical factors and motivations shaping the U.N. charter. That document achieved the formidable task of keeping all of the Great Powers involved and is largely responsible for the U.N.'s indispensable role in shaping policy addressing Kennedy's six problem areas. However, Kennedy argues that international changes like widespread corruption in failing postcolonial states and a shifting balance of world power have created an urgent need for moderate structural changes and more radical conceptual ones if the organization is to remain effective and become more so-as, he believes, it must. Concluding with a brisk series of reform proposals that recognizes the limitations of superpower realpolitik, Kennedy offers an impressive, authoritative and sympathetic account of the U.N.'s past contributions and potential for the future.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The New Yorker

Kennedy's history of the United Nations takes its title from "Locksley Hall," Tennyson's weirdly prescient vision of air war and world government. Like the poem, it oscillates between gloom and sentimentality. Kennedy, who wrote "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers," proceeds methodically through the U.N.'s charter and its various branches, concentrating more on structures than on personalities—even figures like Ralph Bunche and Dag Hammarskjöld appear as little more than sketches. But, amid the morass of commissions and conferences, and failures like Rwanda, he manages to find something convincingly heroic. "The traditional, limp, liberal defense" of the U.N.—that it is a useful body in times of international crisis and has done good in areas such as Third World health—is, he writes "too weak a riposte" to the institution's critics. For Kennedy, the U.N.'s accomplishment is an "international civil society"—a development comparable to a second Enlightenment.
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker - click here to subscribe.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Random House; First Edition edition (June 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375501657
• ISBN-13: 978-0375501654
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #299,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving forward, looking back, June 27, 2006

By 

Friederike Knabe (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations (Hardcover)

Analyzing almost sixty years of United Nations history is, to say the least, an ambitious undertaking. Kennedy has tackled the challenge admirably producing a substantive and very readable account of the "evolution of the many UNs since 1945". His previous participation in the review and reform process of the UN system adds to his qualifications. This study is an excellent entry for anybody interested in learning more about this unique institution, its origins, growth and progress into one of the most complex international organizations.

Kennedy anchors his analysis firmly in the Charter of the United Nations, negotiated toward the end of World War II by the "Big Three" (US, Britain and USSR). He often refers back to these early days to remind the reader of the historical context of the UN and the challenges that ensued from these beginnings. The reader is reminded that only 50 states signed the Charter back in 1945, while the UN today has 191 members. Following chapter 1, which provides an overview of the origins of the UN, Kennedy groups the historical analysis by the major themes, reflecting the core responsibilities of the UN bodies, such as security, peace and war; the social and economic spheres; international human rights and finally global governance, democratization and civil society. It is in this context that Kennedy refers to the "many UNs. In the final part the author summarizes current trends in the reform debates of the UN and includes recommendations for future development.

Taking the theme approach engages the reader more easily in the historical perspective on the UN. Kennedy provides many examples of successes and failures in the areas of peacekeeping (or making) and in the social, economic and human rights spheres. He does not shy away from criticism. In particular, he deems the (end-of-war) structure of the Security Council with its veto system too rigid and explains why. During the long years of the Cold War, it often prevented urgent actions to be taken in response to crises. With the Security Council continuing as the primary decision making body of the UN, Kennedy sides with those proposing change that promote an expansion of the Council and restrictive rules in the use of veto. As concerns the Social and Economic Council (ECOSOC) he laments the lack of clarity in its mandate and the resulting weaknesses. The problems here have been compounded, he argues, by the parallel independent development of the Bretton Woods institutions (World Bank and IMF). It is somewhat surprising hat he accords them a rather prominent place in this context. By necessity of scope, generalizations are made about these institutions' impact on developing countries that could be challenged, for example as regards "structural adjustment programs".

An obvious disadvantage of the thematic approach is a certain level of duplication in some cases or omissions in others. The confusing array of committees, commissions etc. dealing with gender and women's issues is raised without questioning the reasons. In the section on international human rights where gender should be treated as an integral part, the linkages are not made. Kennedy treats the increasing involvement of civil society at the UN as a positive development, yet his analysis is less satisfactory. He highlights the contributions of a few international NGOs rather than on the ever-stronger civil society networks, in particular those emerging in the South. Furthermore, while referring to this aspect of UN work as "messy", Kennedy omits a major initiative in the UN to streamline the work with civil society organizations through the establishment of networks and "major groups" representation.

Kennedy clearly places himself on the side of those reformers who want to strengthen the UN system with an emphasis on progressing step by step in the different areas of its complex structure. Enhancing the operations of the major UN bodies in the social, economic and human rights fields, expanding the Security Council, establishing closer coordination with the Bretton Woods institutions and the UN and related intergovernmental agencies, etc. will have a positive impact on the whole organization and lead to a future that can benefit the peoples of the world. He is realist enough to appreciate the challenges ahead in this direction given the current global power structures. [Friederike Knabe]

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tour d'Horizon of the UN's Successes and Failures, September 11, 2006

By 

Izaak VanGaalen (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations (Hardcover)

In 1945, in San Francisco, when the UN Charter was written, the victors of the Second World War were looking to create an international body that would guarantee global security and prevent another conflagration like the one they had just experienced. The lines from the Tennyson poem "Locksley Hall:" "Till the war-drum throbbed no longer, and the battle flags were furl'd / In the Parliament of Man, Federation of the World" were carried by President Truman in his back pocket when he gave his famous address calling for a United Nations.

Paul Kennedy, Yale historian and author of "The Rise and Fall of Great Powers," reminds us that the internal contradictions that exist at the UN today were present at creation, so to speak. The UN was essentially created by the victors of World War II. The General Assembly, which at the time was made up of 49 members, reflected the internationalism of this venture, each member was allowed one vote regardless of size or power. The Security Council, on the other hand, made up of the five permanent members ( the US, China, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union) were the only members allowed the veto reflecting the realism of the founders.

Essentially the UN is no more than what the great powers want it to be. It is disingenuous for the American right to attack the UN for being weak and ineffectual when they need it because it was designed to be so. In the case of Rwanda and Bosnia, the UN stood by helplessly while thousands were massacred; this was because no great power stepped forward in time to stop these atrocities. Likewise, if a great power decides to act unilaterally such as the US in Iraq or China in Tibet, there is nothing the UN can do. In the politcal and military realm the UN is primarily a tool for the great powers.

Any reform of the UN Charter, such as creating a standing army or increasing the number of permanent members of the Security Council, must be approved by all five of the existing permanent members. Over the years there have been endless commissions, reports, and proposals calling for structural reform at the UN, but none have succeeded in persuading the current five to change the status quo. One must concede that if the current five cannot agree on reform, it would be even more difficult for a larger group.

Kennedy points out that "there are in practice many UN's." Most citizens of great power countries think of the UN only in it's peacekeeping and peace-enforcing capacity - a capacity in which in does not have much power. Most of the developing world is more interested in the UN's "soft power," dealing with human rights, poverty alleviation, refugees, and public health. In these areas, UN efforts have met with some success. These people working through the UN and other NGO's have been instrumental in creating an international civil society, which have greatly contributed to global security and well-being.

Only a few years ago during the invasion of Iraq, American conservatives declared the UN useless and irrelevant. Recently, however, with the crisis in Lebanon and the nuclear stand-off with Iran, one great power after another is going to the UN with another resolution. Inspite of all it's shortcomings, it is still the only global forum for conflict resolution and burden-sharing.

In the last part of this book, Kennedy asks whether the UN can remake itself to reflect the realities of the 21st century. The answer lies in how much power the great powers are willing to relinquish. Globalization is rapidly creating a world that is more multilayered and interconnected. Will the UN be able to keep pace with these changes or will the world pass it by? Kennedy is an optimist.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Kennedy could have done better!, October 30, 2007

By 

Gaunilon - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations (Vintage) (Paperback)

There's probably no better qualified writer for a history of the UN and assessment of its prospects. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers was an important and influential book, and the formation of the UN around the alliance of the victorious Allies really was the last collaboration among them. As the driver of the Great Powers School of geopolitical thinking, Kennedy was the right author for an analysis of the UN. Having a strong interest in the UN, I looked for a good history of analysis a few years back, and discovered the last one, by an LA Times reporter, was a decade old and out of print. It was wonderful to learn that a seminal historian would tackle the subject.

But at a time when most organizations are undergoing serious scrutiny for their roles in failing to capture the peace dividend, or serious lapses of intelligence and execution, in Kennedy's book the UN hardly gets any tough analysis. It is truly inexplicable that Srebrenica not get reviewed, or even Oil-for-Food Scandal.

The book not only overlooks what's important, it's boring. Yes, instead of looking at the organization from the ground up, he peers at it through a stack of paper. He wades through the verbiage of its self-definition, then bogs down in all its silly acronyms.

Here's what he should have written about: The UN is as DOA as the League of Nations unless it can rebalance membership in the Permanent Security Council to reflect the latent military clout of the current world. At heart, all the UN is an alliance between nations that were victorious 60-years ago. It will lose all purchase unless it can reflect probable military realities. Either it will change, or disappear. Hey, that would be a bad thing.

Reading the acknowledgements after the long boring platitudinous slog, I realized the problem. The UN commissioned Kennedy to write about the UN's situation. That explains how boring and polite this book is, purged of all drama. And that's duplicitous on Kennedy's part - especially if he got paid for his analysis, and then used the same material for a supposedly unbiased book.

Rewrite it with some teeth!