The Future of the United Nations: Understanding the Past ... (ISBN 084477183X)

A sober analysis of the United Nations:
This book does a fine job of summarizing the performance of the United Nations during the past sixty years. The UN has not been too good at preserving peace. And as the author points out, in the case of the Sinai in 1967, it actually helped to precipitate a conflict! There were some successes, but there were huge failures in Bosnia, Serbia, and Rwanda that make one wonder if the UN is of any value at all. Perhaps the UN is at its worst in the field of human rights. Muravchik explains one reason is that roughly half of the most oppressive governments on Earth are members of the UN's commission on human rights! That's why the world's worst human rights offenders ordinarily get away without mention. Still, as the author explains, each year about a dozen less powerful states do actually get criticized, always with just one mildly worded resolution. The one exception is Israel, which gets a big bunch of harsh (and totally absurd) resolutions every year. Muravchik says of this that "in a thousand ways, the UN acts as a kind of permanent pogrom against the Jewish state." The author includes four excellent appendices, showing (among other things) the freedom score and frequency of voting the way the United States does for the 190 UN nations other than the US, and the amount of money each nation pays to support the UN. Well, what recommendations does Muravchik have? I would like to outlaw the UN, but Muravchik is far more moderate than I: he merely wants to abolish the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Commission on Human Rights, and other useless or pernicious agencies. He'd keep the building, and he'd let folks meet there. Muravchik explains that we Americans often view government as a necessary evil. That's true. On the other hand, he says that world government is an unnecessary evil. I agree. I also agree with his suggestion to replace the political bodies by ad hoc ones that would command respect by their own actual merits. I think that would indeed be helpful, given that the agencies we now see have been so horribly perverted. I recommend this book.

Short but incisive:
This slim but info-packed book explores the dismal history of the UN and offers some suggestions for reform. Muravchik is an expert on the behaviour of the organization, describing the waste, corruption and expedient vote trading in an illuminating but detached manner. Covering its history, he discusses both its overwhelming failure as peacekeeper and the limited success of its humanitarian efforts. Noting that the UN has failed utterly as a promoter of peace, he observes that it will always have its devotees because the concept of a "world parliament" sounds so noble. It is perhaps understandable that during the Cold War the UN could not achieve much. But its record since 1991 has been equally, if not more, disgraceful. That is because the members are mostly totalitarian regimes representing ruling cliques and not the citizens of their countries. Muravchik chronicles the long list of failures and the UN's complicity in human rights abuses and corruption on a breathtaking scale. The tragic failures include Darfur, Kosovo, Rwanda, Somalia and Bosnia. Then there is the Oil For Food scandal and the abuse of children by UN peacekeepers in places like Sierra Leone and Liberia. In addition, the organization has become a model of hypocrisy in its antisemitism and bashing of Israel. The author does not believe that any current reform proposals will improve matters. He argues instead for political bodies like the Security Council to be done away with, while specialized agencies like the World Health Organization deserve to survive. He also thinks that the organization's role as an informal diplomatic forum might serve a useful purpose. In the interim, regional alliances like NATO are far more effective at keeping the peace. Other valuable books dissecting the United Nations include The UN Gang by Pedro Sanjuan, Tower of Babble by Dore Gold, The UN Exposed by Eric Shawn and The Beast on the East River by Nathan Tabor.

Deeply Flawed and Sharply Biased Study:
Muravchik has written an inconsistent and contradictory work that masquerades as a serious study. He reviews the history of the UN's successes and purported failures, along with its well-known organizational inadequacies. He then proposes a preposterous set of "solutions" to the UN's problems. In a section that would be funny if it weren't so dangerous, he proposes the elimination of the UN Security Council and General Assembly. What does he propose to substitute in their place? He states, "The UN would continue as a gathering place for diplomats from all over, a high-level salon." Then, "If nations had issues on which they wished to express themselves, nothing would stop them from calling a meeting of whomever was interested." So much for scholarship the American Enterprise Institute.