Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1971. / Typescript. Vita. Also published by Praeger in 1972 under title: Peking's UN policy. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

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The aim of the paper is to further discussion on legitimation in international fora, and to contribute to the scholarly debate on the role of the interpretation of the past in state actors’ legitimation. This is pursued by conducting a descriptive qualitative study of Israel’s justification of political claims by remembrance of the past in the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly, between 2009-2017. In a theoretic framework that bridges legitimation theory and the theory of public memory, it is hypothesised that legitimation aid state actors to define national interests, identify threats, mobilize publics and perceive options. The results demonstrate that legitimation through referring to the past is employed by Israel for a wide variety of contemporary political issues, and that different aspects of the past are recalled for different issues. The conclusion is that legitimation through the remembered past seems to support the hypotheses of legitimation, and that Israel’s political leaders during the studied timespan appear to promote some parts of the past over others for justifying political stances.

The number of United Nations interventions in civil conflicts has increased since the end of the Cold War. Traditional peace-keeping has proved ill-suited to deal with them; second-generation, multi-task peace-keeping operations have emerged as a substitute. These new operations have strained UN resources and the willingness of nations to provide troops is not as forthcoming as it used to be. Therefore, the UN has shared in recent years the burden of conflict resolution with regional organisations and ad hoc coalitions. This thesis studies multinational interventions in three conflicts (Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia) and asks what lessons can be drawn with regard to co-operation between the different actors involved on the ground. Moreover, it discusses the problems involved in the transfer of an operation between the UN and non-UN actors.

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This thesis explores the conditions under which the EU is an effective actor at the United Nations in the policy area of human security. Since the late 1990s, the United Nations has been increasingly active in addressing challenges posed by human security concerns. The concept of human security was introduced to emphasize the post-Cold War shift from a state-centred approach to security to an approach focused on the security of individuals. The EU is considered by some as a driving force in the UN policy process and has presented itself as a leader in the promotion of concrete initiatives to address human security challenges. This thesis seeks to examine whether the EU is truly an effective actor at the UN in human security negotiations and aims to identify conditions which influence the EU’s effectiveness. This thesis suggests that the analysis of conditions affecting the EU’s effectiveness at the UN requires the understanding of the ways in which a complex web of actors and institutions interact at three different levels: international, European Union and domestic. Using a multilevel game approach, this thesis examines the willingness of EU actors to work collectively at the UN (internal effectiveness) and the achievements of the EU’s objectives (external effectiveness). This thesis analyzes three cases of human security negotiations: 1) the ban on anti-personnel landmines, 2) the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons (SALW) and 3) the involvement of children in armed conflicts. Factors which have affected the EU’s internal and external effectiveness are identified in each of the case studies. The thesis uses qualitative methods such as expert interviews, documentary analysis and nonparticipant observation. This thesis demonstrates that, at the international level, the commitment of the EU to multilateralism can have an effect on the EU’s effectiveness in human security negotiations. The position of other key UN actors (such as the United States and the G-77) regarding a potential agreement also appears to directly influence EU Member States in achieving their objectives. The thesis argues that the use of consensus in the negotiations process can have a significant impact on the EU’s effectiveness. At the EU level, the analysis reveals that several key EU Member States channelled their efforts to convince their EU partners to act on all three issues. This thesis shows how the role of the EU presidency in coordinating the position of EU Member States can also affect the EU effectiveness in human security negotiations. The support of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, three dominant players in the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy, seems also particularly influential in negotiations. Finally, the case studies suggest that domestic politics can directly shape the EU’s effectiveness. Internal negotiations in EU Member States and the involvement of NGOs at the domestic level are two other factors which influence the EU’s effectiveness.

The United Nations (UN), and its respective agencies, have developed global initiatives with the overall aim of bringing attention to the importance of educating about, through and for human rights in various professional sectors. However, UN member states have varied in their commitments to develop, implement, and report on national policies and initiatives that endorse the promotion of human rights education (HRE), explicitly in the areas of primary, secondary and higher education institutes (HEIs). At present, there is limited literature concerning HRE and its diffusion throughout HEIs. This qualitative enquiry was undertaken to gain a deeper understanding of the dissemination of HRE within HEIs. Furthermore, the research sought to provide a representation of experiences and perspectives shared by human rights scholars and practitioners regarding the placement of HRE in academia. The data from this study was gathered through individual, semi-structured interviews with ten participants from seven different countries. The findings provide affirmation of the ongoing commitment that is required by not only member states, but a diversity of actors at the local, national and global levels. It is hoped that the recommendations will provide incentive for further research, including informed action plans that will advance HRE at the tertiary levels. There is still a significant amount of work that needs to be done to make HRE commonplace within universities. Consideration ought to be given to HRE and its capacity to complement academic fields that extend beyond its assumed presence in traditional disciplines. / February 2017

The purpose of this investigation is to look at the international organization from the point of view of a small, non-military nation to discover if and how it may be useful to such a nation in carrying out its foreign policy objectives in a bi-polar, nuclear world.

The North-South divide is one of the central political characteristics of the UN climate change negotiations. But while the Group of 77 coalition has been the main negotiating group for the South, developing countries have often faced challenges to their unity, magnified by the recent establishment of smaller negotiating groups. How has 'the South' hung together? This thesis investigates how developing countries have formed negotiating groups over the two decades of the UN climate negotiating process. It explains the origins of the different negotiating groups that have formed over this time, as well as the timing of their emergence and the scope of their membership. In particular, while scholarly attention has focused on the G77, Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and most recently the Brazil-South Africa- India-China (BASIC) coalition, this thesis corrects the relative neglect in understanding the many other negotiating groups that have formed. While conventional explanations highlights the shared material interests that underpin group formation, this thesis advances a constructivist argument that emphasises instead the importance of collective identities in shaping norms of 'appropriate association' – the social bases of whose one's friends and allies are. It highlights the regional basis for many of these negotiating groups that cut across shared material circumstances, and draws upon historical institutionalist insights on critical junctures and path dependence to place this larger pattern of Southern coalition formation in the appropriate historical and institutional context of the UN system. It demonstrates the continuing persistence of countries identifying as the 'South', where despite changing material circumstances and disagreements among developing countries, the salience of the G77 as the constitutive institution of this identity remains. Above all, in investigating the processes of coalition formation among developing countries in the climate context, this thesis deepens scholarly understanding about the contemporary meaning of the 'South'.

ABSTRACT South-South cooperation has become one of the most powerful tools at the disposal of developing countries for integration into the global economy. South-South relations that gained momentum in the aftermath of the Cold War have demonstrated a radical departure from the now archaic modes of engagement characteristic of the Cold War era. A handful of developing countries have emerged as de facto leaders of the South. These are countries that have taken significant rhetorical as well as practical steps towards strengthening South-South cooperation, as a means to counter the global domination of the affluent states of the North. This research report investigates the Post-Cold war adaptation of South-South cooperation exemplified by China and South Africa, and how they cooperate in international fora, with focus on the United Nations and World Trade Organisation. These are two countries that are strong advocates of South-South solidarity, and are regarded as leading powers of the developing world. Although with varying political and economic formations, the two countries have much in common. The most salient commonality is their evolving foreign policies. It is their evolving foreign policies that have enabled China and South Africa to take particular positions in international forums. There is significant commitment to the South agenda and this is demonstrated in UN and WTO engagements. However, there is ample room for improvement. Though committed to South-South cooperation, China and South Africa are still more committed to national interests. For South-South cooperation to move beyond rhetoric and periodic instances of cooperation there is an urgent need to redefine South-South cooperation. A new definition should involve a significant shift from the current abstract characterisation, to one that focuses on specific issues whose progress can be monitored and measured.