The United Nations and the promotion of peace*

This article is based on the 2001 Erskine Childers Memorial Lecture, delivered to Action for UN Renewal at Friends House, London on 12 June 2001, updated to include the effects of the attacks in New York and Washington on 11 September 2001.

Abstract

Despite the end of the cold war, many other conflicts persisted in the 1990s. The hope that a peace dividend would help to alleviate poverty was replaced by doubts regarding the effects of free market globalization and environmental constraints. Future concerns include the continuing aftermath of the cold war, the increased destructiveness of modern warfare, despite the increased sophistication of modern weaponry, the widening poverty gap between a wealthy elite and the majority of the world's population and developing global economic and environmental threats. The response to all this should be economic co‐operation for sustainable development, including trade reform, and radical change in the environmental impact of the industrialized countries. Yet it appears that the response of the US, and to a lesser extent Europe, is to maintain the status quo in its own interests by military means, an attitude that seems to have been reinforced by the events of 11 September 2001. Nevertheless, these developments are opposed by citizen groups in the developed world and by analysts in the South. The United Nations and its agencies have been at the forefront of analysis and proposals for action in many of these fields. Its role is likely to increase in the next 30 years and it must be made as effective a global body as possible.

Key Words:

• Conflict
• Environment
• Globalization
• Inequality
• Sustainable development
• United Nations

Notes

This article is based on the 2001 Erskine Childers Memorial Lecture, delivered to Action for UN Renewal at Friends House, London on 12 June 2001, updated to include the effects of the attacks in New York and Washington on 11 September 2001.