Selective Responsibility in the United Nations
eBook - PDF

Selective Responsibility in the United Nations

Colonial Histories and Critical Inquiry

  1. 193 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Selective Responsibility in the United Nations

Colonial Histories and Critical Inquiry

About this book

The United Nations claims to exist in order to maintain international peace and security, providing a space within which all states can work together. But why, then, does the UN invoke its responsibility to protect through humanitarian intervention in some instances but not others? Why is it that five states have the power to decide whether or not to intervene? This book challenges the dominant narrative of the UN as an institution of equality and progress by analyzing the colonial origins of the organization and revealing the unequal power relations it has perpetuated.

Harsant argues that the United Nations is unable to fulfill its claims around the protection of international peace and security due to its very structure and the privilege of certain states. Moreover, through a rigorous examination of the history of the UN and how those structures came to be, she argues that the privilege afforded to these states is the result of power relations established through the colonial encounter.

In order to understand the pressing contemporary issues of how the United Nations operates, particularly the Security Council, this book discusses issues of power and sovereignty by de-silencing the narratives of resistance and reconstructing a history of the United Nations that takes this colonial and anti-colonial relationship into account. This is a bold challenge to the eurocentrism that dominates International Relations discourse and a call to better understand the colonialism's role in preserving the existing global order.

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Yes, you can access Selective Responsibility in the United Nations by Katy Harsant in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Política y relaciones internacionales & Colonialismo y poscolonialismo. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Series Page
  4. Title Page
  5. Copyright Page
  6. Dedication
  7. Contents
  8. Acknowledgements
  9. Abbreviations
  10. Introduction
  11. Chapter 1: From Sovereignty to Sovereign Equality
  12. Chapter 2: Resistance to Imperialism and the Two Leagues
  13. Chapter 3: The United Nations and Colonialism: Re-narrating San Francisco
  14. Chapter 4: The Rise of Asia-Africa and Discourses of Development
  15. Chapter 5: After Bandung: Independence and Non-alignment
  16. Chapter 6: From Non-intervention to R2P
  17. Conclusion
  18. Bibliography
  19. Index