- Poverty: The rebound
- The UN in search of meaning
Poverty: The rebound
Counteranalysis. The UN in search of meaning
Current affairs
Barometers
Reflections
Book reviews
Poverty, a major consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to increase exponentially throughout the world, even though it was supposed to disappear in its most extreme form by 2030.
In the poorest countries, in “emerging” countries, and even in the richest countries, poverty and inequality are worsening, and this situation is unlikely to be fixed by a resumption in growth or by international aid alone. Both economic and political strategies must be put in place, such as economic stimulus, aid, redistribution policies, and state-building, as states alone are capable of controlling the destiny of their populations.
In a world severely unsettled by health challenges and the resulting power struggles, what is the role of the United Nations (UN), seventy-five years after it was established in a radically different world? Beyond reform, which currently seems unattainable, the global organization still embodies a universality that is unavoidable in the face of today’s problems: climate change, new health problems, and so on. It remains the only place to assert benchmark values even if these values are rarely respected. And through its specialist organizations (the UN “system”) it confronts very concrete problems, including development, food, and international regulations.
Asserting and challenging the law; peacekeeping under difficult circumstances; declaring human rights that are too often violated; establishing multiple safeguarding initiatives: in all of these activities the UN is the mirror of the world, reflecting back its weaknesses and its hopes.
- Uploaded on Cairn-int.info on 09/03/2021
- ISBN 9791037303066
