In 2005, the world was not sure whether Cote d’Ivoire could continue to exist. Home to over three million Ivorians of about 60 different ethnic groups, the coastal African nation was torn by a three-year-long civil war. Despite attempts by both France and the United Nations to de-escalate, tensions were reigniting between the Ivorian government […]
Tag: UN
Turmoil Before the Storm: Underlying Political Risk in Libya
Derna was a beautiful seaside town, built on the ruins of a Greek colony by Spanish Muslims in the late 15th century. It was home to Libya’s first movie theater, dozens of religious buildings, cafes, and bookstores. It was a town rich with culture and intellectual vitality. But the physical evidence of that is now […]
Dissatisfaction and Disappointment at UNGA78
“Compromise has become a dirty word. Our world needs statesmanship, not gamesmanship and gridlock . . . It is time for a global compromise. Politics is compromise. Diplomacy is compromise. Effective leadership is compromise. Leaders have a social responsibility to compromise in building the common future of peace and prosperity for our common good.” With […]
Piecing Back a Shattered Peace in Europe: An Interview with Darren C. Zook
Professor Darren C. Zook teaches in Political Studies and Global Studies at UC Berkeley. His research interests include human rights, comparative Asian politics, international law, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. BPR sat down with him, dressed in one of his signature floral-patterned shirts, to discuss the Russo-Ukrainian War’s impact on international law […]
The United Nations: Is It As United As We Think?
On October 24, 1945, fifty nation representatives at the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco collaborated to create the United Nations. With supporting signatures from China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the United Nations became the global governing force. Following World War II, the world […]
Whose Allies Are They, Anyway? : North Korea’s Illicit Trade and the Role of China
North Korea. The world’s least free society, behind the world’s most militarized border, with the world’s most threatening nuclear weapons program. Despite a fanatical ideology of self-reliance, juche, Pyongyang maintains selective contacts with the outside world. These contacts are primarily aimed at maintaining the stability of the North Korean economy, and they have generally been […]
Rohingya with No Rescue
Ambia Khatun rushed her two children out of her burning house on the early morning of November 23. Unable to escape in time, her husband lay with the burning remnants of their villages, killed once the Myanmar army started firing. 37-year-old Khatun is one of the 1.3 Million Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar’s […]
The Missing Part of Haitian Progress: The Forgotten Children
Haiti is home to 10 million people and the first modern revolution predicated on freedom, equality and justice of all. But among all the nations in the Western Hemisphere, none have faced greater challenges to improve the lives of its children. Yet, the forgotten children of Haiti may offer the very things that Haiti needs […]
Ratifying Without Resolve
The 21st century was met with an explosion of international documents intended to protect universal human rights. Indeed, the international community is currently flooded with treaties, protocols, resolutions, mandates, and handshakes. However, there is one critical element to all of these policies and ideas that dries up their potential for positive impact – enforcement. Without […]
The UN Security Council Needs Reform, and Fast
The conflict in Syria has resulted in the greatest humanitarian disaster of recent times. In 1945, the global community said ‘never again’ to loss on such a wide scale. They said the same in 1999 after the Rwandan genocide. Despite the loss of over 140,000 lives, the UN’s only decision has been to […]