Mixed Messages: American Politics and International Organization 1919-1999

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Brookings Institution Press, 01.12.2010 - 394 Seiten

At the turn of the century, the United States is on the verge of losing its vote in the General Assembly for non-payment of its arrears. There are eerie parallels between the domestic debate over the United Nations in 1999 and the struggles over the League of Nations in 1919. Why, many ask, are Americans the first to create international organizations and the first to abandon them? What is it about the American political culture that breeds both the most ardent supporters and the most vocal detractors of international organization? And why can't they find any common ground? In seeking to uncover the roots of American ambivalence toward international organization, this political history presents the first major analysis of U.S. attitudes toward both the United Nations and the League of Nations. It traces eight themes that have resurfaced again and again in congressional and public debates over the course of this century: exceptionalism, sovereignty, nativism and racism, unilateralism, security, commitments, reform, and burden-sharing. It assesses recent domestic political trends and calls for the development of two interactive political compacts--one domestic and one international--to place U.S.-UN relations on a new footing. A Century Foundation Book

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Inhalt

The Price of Uncertainty and Division
1
A Special Nation Peerless and Indispensable
15
The Burden of Exceptionalism
19
The Indispensable United States
23
The Universal United Nations
29
Are Americans Out of Step with the Rest of the World?
34
National Interests Sovereignty and Global Governance
41
Big or Small Near or Far
42
Whos in Control? The Question of Foreign Command of US Forces
184
Who Owes Whom? Paying for Peacekeeping Support Costs
193
Reform for All Seasons
196
Unfinished Business in Planning the League and the UN
198
An Early Frost
201
Barriers to Reform
205
Reform as a Way of Life
210
Congress and UN Reform
219

Promise or Threat?
48
A Global Tax Man?
51
Nationalism and Global Institutions
55
Inhibiting US Freedom of Action or Multiplying Its Reach?
61
Evolving Notions of Sovereignty
68
Enemies Within Enemies Without
76
Those Wily Europeans
78
Communists at Turtle Bay
83
Race Class and Their Legacies
89
America in Loyal Opposition
105
An Unfriendly Place?
106
Beijing In Taipei Out
111
Rock Bottom? The ZionismRacism Fiasco
113
A League of Democracies?
118
Acting Globally and Thinking Locally
120
Permanent Opposition?
128
Dilemmas of Force
133
Peace through War?
139
The Veto National Security and the Use of Force
147
Keeping the Peace National Interests and International Commitments
163
Uncertain Interests OpenEnded Commitments
164
The President Congress and War Powers
175
Who Should Pay for the UN?
224
Burden Sharing and Legal Obligations
228
UN Bonds
230
The Article 19 Crisis
233
Legal Relativity and the Withholding Habit
238
The Withholding Debate
243
Layers of Mistrust
250
The Political Landscape
254
Debate Postponed Issues Unresolved
255
Broad Measures of Support
260
Who Are the Believers Skeptics and Opponents?
268
A Mission Impossible?
271
Old Realities New Opportunities
280
No Shortcuts or Easy Solutions
284
Toward a New Domestic Compact
286
Toward a New International Compact
291
Catalyst or Lightning Rod?
298
The Key to Opening or Locking the Door?
303
Notes
307
Index
363
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Autoren-Profil (2010)

Edward C. Luck, a leading commentator for a quarter century and president of the United Nations Association from 1984 to 1994, heads the Center for the Study of International Organization of the NYU School of Law and the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University. His previous books include "Arms Control: The Multilateral Alternative" (NYU Press, 1983).

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