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  • UN's Role in South Asia: The Case of Nepal

    Nepal has conducted a slew of political experiments since 2006. By inviting the Maoists into the mainstream and collectively deciding to dump the Constitution of 1990, there was hope that a new era of peace and stability would begin with the end of the decade-long armed insurgency. The Constituent Assembly (CA) elections of 2008 saw the emergence of the Maoists as the largest party—which was a totally unexpected and surprising outcome for the international community.

    November 2011

    Scaling the Nuclear Abolition Mountain: Is the United Nations up to the Task?

    Strong motivation is the most important factor in getting you to the top.

    Edmund Hillary (on scaling Mt Everest)

    Some have compared the goal of a nuclear weapons free world to scaling an incredibly high mountain—and the mountain is covered in cloud making the peak invisible. Thus, they argue, all we can do is take small steps up the lower slope—hoping for better conditions in the future that might make it possible to climb higher.

    November 2011

    The Protection of Civilians and the United Nations

    The world has changed significantly since the founding of the United Nations and so have its conflicts. During the mid-twentieth century, the pre-eminent challenge for multilateral cooperation was the awesome prospect of a Third World War. Today, in the aftermath of the Cold War, we see a more elaborated focus on the prevention of conflict and the protection of communities and peoples—both as a sovereign responsibility of the modern nation-state as well as a central focus of the United Nations peace engagements.

    November 2011

    Reforming the United Nations

    Any organisation established in the aftermath of the Second World War obviously cannot fulfil its functions, in a world that has changed so dramatically, without adapting itself to the contemporary realities of international politics and economics.

    When the United Nations Charter was promulgated on 26 June 1945, it reflected the immediate post-war situation and most importantly the international political balance of power that existed in 1945.

    November 2011

    Towards a World Community: Thoughts on India and the Idea of United Nations Reform

    The title of this article is derived from a famous speech made by Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, at the United Nations in December 1956. Over the previous decade, Nehru, together with his sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, and Mahatma Gandhi, had been working to build the UN into a form of global government. They termed their vision One World, and it had democracy and human rights as its basis.

    November 2011

    India and the United Nations

    To paraphrase the mantra of realism—international politics, like all politics, is a struggle for normative ascendancy: the establishment and maintenance of the dominant normative architecture of international order created and maintained by the interplay of power and ideas. As China, India and Brazil emerge as important growth centres in the world economy, the age of the West and its disrespect for the role, relevance and voice of the rest of the world is passing.

    November 2011

    The PM’s Speech at the 66th UNGA session: Indian Foreign Policy in Search of a Balance?

    The PM’s speech in the UN General Assembly shows that Indian foreign policy may be rediscovering age old themes which had become subdued in recent years.

    September 26, 2011

    India and the Palestinian Bid for Statehood at the UN

    Irrespective of the outcome of the Palestinian bid to seek to become the 194th UN member-state, the effort is a definitive ‘fork-in-the-road’ as far as the future contours of the intractable issue are concerned.

    November 19, 2011

    India’s Presidency in the UN Security Council – An Evaluation

    Only a well-formulated and decisive stance on issues would make India’s case for a permanent seat at the horse-shoe table well-earned.

    September 19, 2011

    Afghanistan: An idea anticipating peace

    In a positive movement, ISAF’s peace enforcement operation over time will have to shift to peacekeeping. Thinking through the idea of UN-SAARC hybrid peacekeeping mission now could help catalyse the peace process eventually.

    June 06, 2011

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