The United Nations : new life for an aging institution

View/Open

View/Open: United_Nations.pdf (4.2MB) Bookview

Moderator

Krogh, Peter F. (Peter Frederic)

Repository

Digital Georgetown

Person Interviewed

Albright, Madeleine

Allen, Richard V.

House, Karen Elliott

Georgetown University

Georgetown University. School of Foreign Service

Abstract

Transcripts of the video interviews from Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives

Description

After years of seeming irrelevancy in a bipolar world, the United Nations shone with new hope as the thawing of the cold war paved the way for increased cooperation amongst member nations. As tensions in the world decreased, so too did tensions in the UN, allowing for a flurry of impressive diplomatic achievements. In the two years leading up to 1990, the UN negotiated a ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq war, facilitated the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, and assumed a variety of peacekeeping roles around the globe. However, certain hesitations about the UN still lingered in the U.S. foreign policy community, with many questioning the overall usefulness of the organization and the equity of member dues assessed the United States. At the time, the United States owed nearly $500 million in back dues, a result of American displeasure with past UN policies. In light of the new geopolitical environment, guests Richard Allen, Karen Elliott House, and Madeleine Albright discuss the UN's strengths and weaknesses, as well as the United States' outstanding dues which threatened to undermine peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts around the world.

Permanent Link

http://hdl.handle.net/10822/551441

Date

1990

Rights

Rights Note

For more information about copyright for materials within DigitalGeorgetown, please consult https://www.library.georgetown.edu/copyright/digitalgeorgetown.