Utopia lost - Rosemary Righter

With the end of the cold war, the marginalization of the UN appears to be a thing of the past. The UN has been in the headlines since 1990, when the Security Council's swift response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait gave the impression of a revitalised institution. But the currents of change sweeping the outside world have had little effect inside the UN. With the UN's new prominence has come a greater frankness about its deep-seated inadequacies--whether as guardian of peace and human rights, as forum for the exchange of ideas, or as a catalyst for multilateral cooperation.;The ideals and cooperative purposes the UN stands for have retained their resonance, and powerful governments are more ready than ever to turn to it--if the UN meets the needs of a new and more active era of multilateral diplomacy. Righter argues that the West has been mistaken to concentrate on reforming the worst-run parts of it. As the Bretton Woods institutions have shown, demand-led reform is key, and the successful UN organizations will be those that adapt to a competitive multilateral world.;Rosemary Righter is the chief editorial writer of The Times, London, specialising in international affairs. Formerly a diplomatic correspondent for The Sunday Times, she has covered many UN missions in the field.