United Nations and global governance

Robert Walker

Chapter 5 in Is China Right?, 2026, pp 56-70 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The United Nations, the world's parliament, is often merely a talking shop, established and still largely controlled – and frequently weakened – by Western governments. Enfeebled before birth by US insistence that global economic affairs be removed from an organisation that it was less able to dominate, the self-appointed permanent members of the Security Council have used their vetoes to prioritise national and ideological self-interest. Rich countries have been able to buy influence in the UN to further their agendas and to control senior appointments while the US, especially, has used non-payment of subscriptions as coercive diplomacy. Despite repeated attempts by the UN secretariat and lobbying by the G77, many of Western member states have resisted engagement with the organisation's original cosmopolitan ideals of promoting ‘economic and social progress and development’. This is illustrated by their failure actively to commit to the SDGs, global public health and climate change.

Keywords: United Nations; Sustainable Development Goals; Climate Change; Covid-19; Public Health Poverty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035329229
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