United Nations and Changing World Politics

The revised and updated Introduction to this classic text situates the UN in substantially changing world politics, including: The election of the ninth Secretary-General, António Guterres; The burgeoning of “new nationalisms” worldwide, including most importantly in the Trump administration’s Washington, DC, and Brexit; The continuing proliferation of such non-state actors as ISIS and those in the “third UN,” including developmental and humanitarian NGOs. Essential to all classes on the UN, International Organizations, and Global Studies, this interim edition of The United Nations and Changing World Politics is refreshed for students and scholars alike.

Praise for Prior Editions “Four expert authors join forces to provide a theoretically sophisticated survey of the UN as an actor—and not merely a stage—in international politics.” —Robert E. Williams, Jr., Pepperdine University “Few stories are as complex, as misunderstood, or as urgent as that of the United Nations. No one tells it better than this dynamic author team. Already a classic, their text offers invaluable insights into how the world tries, fails, and tries again to govern itself.” —Edward Luck, Columbia University “Since its first edition in the mid-1990s, this book has been the standard text on the UN for courses in international organization. No other book can compete with its sophisticated analysis and up-to-date information.” —Craig N. Murphy, Wellesley College “[The authors] focus on the most important questions of international governance—human security, human rights, and sustainable development—and provide students with a wealth of information enabling them to make their own informed conclusions about the UN system’s contributions to answering them.” —M. J. Peterson, University of Massachusetts, Amherst “These civilized voices from the ‘other America’ have done it again! Taking as their principal themes peace and security, human rights and humanitarian issues, as well as sustainable human development, [the authors] guide us through the intricacies of politics at the UN in the form of an analytical narrative of global problems. This is not only for students and practitioners in the United States, but elsewhere, too, if we are to get an authentic and welcome voice of that ‘other America.’” —A.J.R. Groom, University of Kent

Thomas G. Weiss is Presidential Professor at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center and Director-Emeritus of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies.David P. Forsythe is the Charles J. Mach Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Roger A. Coate is Paul D. Coverdell Professor of Public Policy at Georgia College & State University and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of South Carolina. Kelly-Kate Pease is Professor of International Relations at Webster University in St. Louis and the Director of the International Relations Program Worldwide. She also serves as a Fellow in the Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies.