Delusions of Grandeur: The United Nations and Global Intervention

The United Nations is an increasingly controversial institution, especially in the United States. Many champions of that world organization viewed the end of the Cold War as the dawn of a new era in international affairs in which the UN would play a leading role. A standing army at the call of the Security Council would impose peace on warring nations and engage in "nation building" in socalled failed states. A host of UN-brokered international agreements on issues ranging from the environment to health to urban planning, funded by the World Bank and the regional development banks, would serve as the basis for a global "Great Society." The more ambitious the initiatives, however, the more glaringly apparent the organization's problems. Critics point to a more than a half century of inefficiency, corruption, and disastrously mismanaged peacekeeping ventures, culminating with those in Somalia and Bosnia. Some critics have even begun to question whether the UN should continue to exist at all. During the 104th Congress, Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.) and several cosponsors introduced legislation to rescind the United Nations Participation Act and terminate America's membership in the organization. A few months later, Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, published a scorching article in Foreign Affairs, demanding that the UN adopt major reforms or go out of business.