The United Nations: Review and Reform

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2010:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

The subject will examine various dimensions of the conflict between national sovereignty and international interdependence which impinge on the nature and institutions of global governance. It will extend students knowledge of the diversity of the forms of international governance, and of the purposes, activities, styles of work and governance of international institutions. The subject will explore the rationale and functioning of existing institutions, attempt a rigorous assessment of their effectiveness, of proposals for their reform, and of the gaps in institutional arrangements. Particular attention will be given to the sources of conflicts underlying their difficulties in making decisions and taking action. On completion of the subject students should be better able to discern the forces operating in global institutions, the means through which they work, and to effectively discuss alternative possible reforms.

• Enable to gain thorough knowledge of the conflict between national sovereignty and international interdependence which impinge on the nature and institutions of global governance;
• Increase understanding of the diversity of the forms of international governance;
• Enable to discern the forces operating in global institutions, the means through which they work, and to effectively discuss alternative possible reforms.

Paul Kennedy, The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations, Random House, New York, 2000

Deepak Nayyar, (ed.) Governing Globalization: Issues and Institutions, OUP, Oxford, 2002.

James Traub, The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American World Power, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2006, Ch 1.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• Be able to apply research skills and critical methods to a field of inquiry;
• be able to develop persuasive arguments on a given topic;
• be able to communicate oral and written arguments and ideas effectively and articulately.