The United Nations: International Organization and World Politics [Paperback]

Lawrence Ziring (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0155078658 | ISBN-13: 978-0155078659 | Edition: 3

THE UNITED NATIONS analyzes the history, processes, structure, and functions of the United Nations. This best-selling one-volume text provides a comprehensive treatment that is adaptable to a variety of course approaches. The basic historical material that comprised the core of the first two editions remains intact in this latest rendering. However, the book has been revised from cover to cover, redrafted to reflect significant changes in the world after the Cold War and the effect of those changes on the character and work of the United Nations.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Larry Ziring is the Arnold E. Schneider Professor of Political Science at Western Michigan University. Author/editor of more than twenty books, his latest publication is PAKISTAN: AT THE CROSSCURRENT OF HISTORY (2003). Currently engaged in studying the evolution of terrorism and its impact on the international system, he recently completed a study of the anatomy of terror in South Aisa. Among his recent publication are: PAKISTAN IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (1997) and an edition in Urdu (2003), INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: A POLITICAL DICTIONARY (1995), BANGLADESH FROM MUJIB TO ERSHAD (1992), and THE MIDDLE EAST: A POLITICAL DICTIONARY (1992). Director of the Western Michigan University graduate program in Development Administration, his teaching responsibilities include American Foreign Policy, International Relations, The United Nations, International Law and Development Administration.

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; 3 edition (August 27, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0155078658
• ISBN-13: 978-0155078659
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,648,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Subtle but pervasive pro-US bias, June 8, 2001

By 

Eric Squire (Montreal, Quebec) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The United Nations: International Organization and World Politics (Paperback)

The revisions contained in the third edition are the work of Lawrence Ziring, professor at the University of Western Michigan. Ziring is a not an obvious candidate to be writing what is designed to be a textbook on the UN. He has publicly supported U.S. policies which are contrary to the spirit and the letter of U.N. principles, including the `humanitarian' bombings in Yugoslavia and U.S. attacks on alleged terrorist camps in Afghanistan and the biological weapons plant (which later turned out to be a pharmaceuticals factory) in Sudan. Ziring is also a member of the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think-tank with people such as Robert McNamara and James A. Baker on its board of directors. The Atlantic Council focuses primarily upon supporting expanded roles for NATO.

As might be expected, in view of Ziring's credentials, the `textbook' is written with a consistently proUS, and generally anti-UN bias. It tends to downplay the UN's effectiveness, it attempts to demonstrate that all issues must be resolved within the context of political realism, and it implies on every occasion available that regional alternatives are to be preferred over the UN. These leitmotifs are pervasive throughout the book, with the exception of a few small patches of optimistic idealism, remnants no doubt of the second edition which Ziring failed to purge.

The biases of the book are nevertheless put forth with subtlety. When Ziring writes of the US refusal to pay its back dues to the UN, for instance, he refrains from ever using the word "refuse", opting instead for evasive locutions such as "reductions in the U.S. contributions were made necessary by subsequent congressional action...." Relative space allocations are used to forward the political agenda as much as the normative commentary: e.g. the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is given more space than on the UN Human Rights Commission, and in the entirety of this 552 page book, there are only about two or three pages-worth of information about UN environmental initiatives. In terms of security issues, the UN is portrayed as a last ditch recourse which should normally defer to `more effective' regional organizations such as NATO and the OAS.

As an example of sophisticated pro-American propaganda, this book is high quality; as a textbook for studying the UN, however, it can only be recommended to those in search of a tool for undermining the organization's legitimacy.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars UN informative, January 30, 2006

By 

Maureen S. Walles "mwalles" (Columbia, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The United Nations: International Organization and World Politics (Paperback)

For those that are curious about the UN, this book is very informative about the duties and various sectors of the UN.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars completely worthless, May 20, 2007

By 

Runamuck (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The United Nations: International Organization and World Politics (Paperback)

this book was a long-winded aimless read that added nothing to how the U.N. operates. The author seemed to have written the book with the goal of demonstrating his vocabulary and sentence structure. Forgetting to give any analysis on the U.N. and its bodies.