Reforming the United Nations – serie

What are the limits of UN system reform? Recent efforts in governance and institutional reform demonstrate that the hurdles are tremendous. The never-ending Security Council reform resulted in disappointment for hopeful governments. The system-wide coherence initiatives covering environment, gender, and ‘Delivering as One’ at country level provide a sobering picture. Inter-agency coordination on climate change, food security, and the global financial crisis did not result in joint programmes. Instead, new entities have diminished the role of the UN which operates on the OECD principles of ‘aid effectiveness.’ Consolidation and merging of UN mandates and structures appear to be a precondition for coherent and efficient action: A conclusion which dominates this edition of the publication series on ‘Reforming the United Nations’.

The UN celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2015. In the Volume Reforming the UN: A Chronology by Joachim Müller an exciting story is told describing the evolution of the UN through the main change initiatives applied by each Secretary-General, characterized by political confrontations, crises of confidence and organizational constraints. Initiatives included approving the Sustainable Development Goals, strengthening peacekeeping, enlarging the Security Council, establishing mechanisms to protect human rights, improving aid efficiency, and reforming management practices. This story is completed by a Chronology of Reform Events to enhance the transparency of parallel, multi-layer reform tracks. Lessons learned highlight the main drivers of changes, the interests and constraints, and the dynamics of the reform process: valuable insight for capitalizing on future change opportunities.