United Nations

Though its goal of securing a permanent seat in the Council during the 2011-12 term was ambitious, the efforts that it put in over the last two years were steered in that direction and have yielded favourable results.

• Saurabh Mishra , Keerthi Sampath Kumar
• March 08, 2013
• Issue Brief

With the release of the United Nations Internal Review Panel Report in November 2012, the deteriorating human rights situation in Sri Lanka has once again captured the attention of the world.

• Thiruni Kelegama
• January 09, 2013
• Issue Brief

The events of the last ten days have once again focussed international attention on the DRC and lent support to voices clamouring for a review of the existing mandate of MONUSCO and the larger process by which these mandates are concretized.

• Akash S. Goud
• December 05, 2012
• IDSA Comments

The shortcomings of the UN Register of Conventional Arms have led to the failure of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). For the Treaty to be robust and meaningful, the weapon systems which will matter in the future must be reflected in the very design of the instrument. Moreover, the Treaty should remain free from biases and prejudices of the past.

• Prashant Dikshit
• August 24, 2012
• IDSA Comments

Despite a humungous infusion of military-logistical support, MONUSCO has achieved little in terms of fulfilling its primary mandate of protecting civilians in the DRC.

• Sneha Bhura
• June 22, 2012
• Backgrounder

The resolution was responsible for sparking off debates in the UN General Assembly and the Security Council which, in turn, has led to the emergence of viable alternatives to military intervention or the use of force.

• Keerthi Sampath Kumar
• May 23, 2012
• Issue Brief

The absence of a credible secular substitute for Assad, a divided opposition, and deadlock in the Security Council, are all acting as stumbling blocks for the US wish to unseat Assad from power.

• Saurabh Mishra
• May 23, 2012
• IDSA Comments

Article 1 of the United Nations Charter declares the maintenance of international peace and security to be the primary function of the United Nations. This makes the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) the most important organ of the whole establishment. All other functions and engagements of the United Nations are in support of the primary cause.

• Saurabh Mishra
• March 2012
• Strategic Analysis

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.

• S. Samuel C. Rajiv
• November 19, 2011
• IDSA Comments

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.

• Ramesh Thakur
• November 2011
• Strategic Analysis