UN Ideas That Changed the World

Sir Richard Jolly

UN SUMMER ACADEMY

UN Ideas four main points

1. Ideas are possibly the UN’s most important contributions 2. The nine UN ideas that changed the World 3 Successes and Failures in putting them into action 4. Future challenges and conclusions for UN Staff

Lourdes Arizpe

“Someone once said that the United Nations is a dream managed by bureaucrats. I would correct that by saying that it has become a bureaucracy managed by dreamers. Certainly you have to be a dreamer to work in the United Nations with conviction. It is only if you have this sense of mission that you can withstand the constant battering by governments who are afraid that the United Nations will become a world government… So in the end, someone who works in the United Nations has to be a magician of ideas, because working for the United Nations is like working for a government in which all the political parties are in power at the same time.”

The Power of Ideas

Elise Boulding Fernando Henrique Cardoso Sir Hans Singer Mrs. Ogata Leticia Shahani Samir Amin Javier Perez de Cuellar Celso Furtado Bernard Chidzero Just Faaland Dharam Ghai Juan Somavía Boutros Boutros-Ghali

The Power of People

www.UNHistory.org

The 9 UN Ideas That Changed the World

Human Rights

1: Human Rights for All 2: Gender Equality and Women’s Rights

Economic Development

3: Development Goals 4: Fairer International Economic Relations 5: Strategies for Accelerating Development in Poorer Countries 6: Priorities for Social Development

Holistic Development

7: Environmental Sustainability 8: Peace and Human Security 9: Human Development

Human Rights for All

      The boldest step of all UDHR was agreed as no more than a declaration, but increasingly has been turned into law and is being implemented A core of seven major human rights conventions have now been ratified by 120-190 countries Many other conventions and instruments adopted and ratified The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was created in 1993 Rights-based approaches to development increasingly applied

Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

       1946 – Gender at top of UN’s statistical agenda 1960s – UN women’s studies started in sub-Saharan Africa 1970 – Women in Development, Ester Boserup’s classic 1975-95 – Four world women’s conferences mobilized women on a global scale – from Mexico to Beijing 1976 – UNIFEM established 1979 – CEDAW adopted 2010 – UNWomen established and USG appointed

Peace and Security Evolving Ideas and Approaches

      1945 – Replacing conflict with the rule of law 1950s – Preventive diplomacy 1950s-1990s – Disarmament and development 1948-2010 Peacekeeping = 124,000 deployed today, 2,100 from China 1994 – Human security 2001 – The Responsibility to Protect

Human Development

A paradigm, not just a slogan, nor just for human development indicators The creation of the distinguished Pakistan economist Mahbub ul Haq and the Indian Nobel laureate economist and philosopher Professor Amartya Sen HDRs produced annually and some 750 National Human Development Reports Human Development brings together UN values and most UN activities

The UN’s Economic Ideas – pioneering and brilliiant but often neglected: Nine Nobel Prize Winners in Economics

1969: Jan Tinbergen 1973: Wassily Leontief 1974: Gunnar Myrdal 1977: James Meade 1979: W. Arthur Lewis and Theodore W. Schultz 1980: Lawrence R. Klein 1984: Richard Stone 1998: Amartya Sen Lawrence R. Klein Amartya Sen

The UN economic ideas have often differed from those of the World Bank and the IMF – but the Bretton Woods Institutions have received most donor support

Fairer International Economic Relations –

priorities for trade, aid and TNCs National Development strategies –directed to accelerated national development Development Goals –mostly focused on human advance, recently towards the MDGs Social Development priorities–a key component of development from the UN’s earliest years

UN goals “

a mixed record but more achievement than generally realized” 1950s Eradicating Malaria 1960-1980 UPE (Universal Primary Education) 1961-1970 (First) Development Decade –accelerating economic growth 1966-1979 Smallpox Eradication –achieved in 11 years 1981-1990 Water and Sanitation Decade 1984-1990 “Child Survival & Development Revolution” 2000-2015 The Millennium Development Goals (the MDGs)

The Millennium Summit Agreed the MDGs

September 2000

Structural Adjustment and the Washington Consensus missed their goals with disastrous effects Latin America Sub-Saharan Africa 20-year changes in per capita income 1960-1980 1980-2000 + 80% + 9% + 36% - 15% Source: Mark Weisbrot et al, The Emperor Has No Growth :Declining Growth in the Era of Globalization (Washington DC, Centre for Economic and Policy Research) 2001

A Balance Sheet of the UN’s Contributions

    The UN has led the way with many fundamental ideas, more than is often realized – notably in statistics, setting global goals, development thinking, environment, supporting equitable economic relations, peace and security, human rights and human development The UN has often been ahead of the World Bank and the IMF – though these have received most donor support and most finance Over the long run, the UN shows considerable impact Ideas are among the UN’s most important contributions

Negatives on the UN Balance Sheet

 Late reaction to the Washington Consensus  Weak response to the special needs of the least developed countries  Too little done to introduce cultural aspects into the development equation  Tardy and weak reaction to HIV/AIDS  Inadequate attention to inequalities of income and wealth, nationally & internationally

UN Ideas gain global influence in four ways

Changing the way issues are perceived Redefining state and non-state interests and goals, thereby setting agendas for action Mobilizing coalitions to press for action Becoming embedded in institutions, which have responsibilities for oversight, implementation and monitoring

The Three UNs: 1

st

UN

Source: UN Photo Archives

Governments

The Three UNs: 2

nd

UN

Source: UN Photo Archives

Staff members

The Three UNs: 3

rd

UN

Source: UN Photo Archives Experts, members of commissions, and NGOs closely associated with the UN

Global challenges for the UN’s future

1 Strengthen global governance in a multi-polar world with strengthened regionalism 2 Tackle climate change and sustainability 3 Diminish national and global inequalities 4 Pursue sustainable holistic development 5 Build international values of humanity and solidarity and bridge divides of culture and identities

Priorities for recovering from the crisis

( drawn from the Stiglitz Report to the UN GA, 2009)

Immediate 1 National and regional actions to tackle the three scourges

= Unemployment, inequalities & environmental sustainability

2 Global and regional coordination of actions 3 Make finance and the banks the servant not the master Over the medium and longer run

1 Reform governance in the IMF and World Bank, with double majority voting 2 Restore and strengthen the position of the UN in economic governance 

Embark on more fundamental changes

3 A global reserve system 4 Mechanisms to diminish causes of global instability 5 Legal and economic modalities for Sovereign Debt default and restructuring 6 An international Court for Debt Restructuring

Conclusions for UN Staff

 Never underestimate the power of UN ideas   Apply and support UN ideas at country level • National Human Development Reports • Reports on Human Security • Catalytic support for implementation • Monitoring nationally and regionally • Support analysis of national interests in global actions Collaborate around common goals and ideas  Goals and ideas are a constructive alternative to bureaucracy  Partner with the Bank and the Fund but recognize the power of UN ideas

Sergio Vieira de Mello

“Unless we aim for the seemingly unattainable, we risk settling for mediocrity.”

Kofi Annan

“Applaud us when we prevail. Correct us when we fail. But above all, do not let this indispensable, irreplaceable institution wither, languish or perish…”

Sources on UN history

    UN Websites – many UNIHP = www.unhistory.org

Oral histories =CD ROM of UNIHP interviews UK careers records and related records = Bodleian Library, Oxford

UNIHP Book Series

       

Ahead of the Curve? UN Ideas and Global Challenges

(2001; 2nd edition 2003; French, German, Arabic editions published 2003)

Unity and Diversity in Development Ideas: Perspectives from the UN Regional Commissions

(2004)

Quantifying the World: UN Contributions to Statistics

(2004)

UN Contributions to Development Thinking and Practice

(2004)

The UN and Global Political Economy: Trade, Finance, and Development

(2004)

UN Voices: The Struggle for Development and Social Justice

(2005)

Women, Development, and the UN: A Sixty-Year Quest for Equality and Justice

(2005)

The Power of UN Ideas: Lessons from the First 60 Years

(2005) 

Human Security and the UN: A Critical History

(2006)

UNIHP Book Series



The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations

(2007) 

Human Rights at the UN: The Political History of Universal Justice

(2008) 

Preventive Diplomacy at the UN

(2008) 

The UN and Transnational Corporations: from Code of Conduct to Global Compact

(2008) 

The UN and Development: From Aid to Cooperation

(2009) 

UN Ideas That Changed the World

(2009) 

The UN and Global Governance: An Unfinished Journey

(forthcoming 2010) 

Development Without Destruction: The UN and the Global Resource Management

(forthcoming 2010)

             

Fifteen UN Organizations and Individuals Have Received the Nobel Peace Prize

1949: John Boyd Orr 1950: Ralph Bunche 1954 and 1981: Office of The UN High Commissioner for Refugees 1957: Lester Pearson 1961: Dag Hammarskjöld 1965: UNICEF –The UN Children’s Fund 1968: René Cassin 1969: The International Labour Organization 1982: Alva Myrdal and Alfonzo Garcia Robles 1988: UN Peacekeeping Forces 2001: Kofi Annan and the UN 2005: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei 2007: The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (jointly with Al Gore) 2008: Martti Ahtisaari Kofi Annan Martti Ahtisaari