Originally published on the CGS blog on September 23, 2007.
Last week, the Center for American Progress (CAP) released Congress and the United Nations: How to a Build a Better Relationship and Move Forward on Needed U.N. Reforms. The report states:
The relationship between the United States and the United Nations is in desperate need of repair. Although the United Nations owes its existence to the post-World War II leadership of America and its allies, in recent years the U.S.?U.N. relationship has spiraled downward into one that is too often dysfunctional. While the relationship has never been without tension, having endured Cold War-related polarization and other political disagreements, much of the breakdown has happened over the past decade?with the U.N. Secretariat, U.N. member states, and the U.S. executive and legislative branches all deserving a share of the blame. A significant part of the problem, however, has been the failure of the United States to provide sufficient support and leadership for the world body.
Unfortunately, the timing couldn?t be worse. The United States needs the United Nations more than ever to help tackle a range of transnational challenges that directly threaten U.S. national security interests. The dire situations in Iraq and Darfur, the continuing threat of global terrorism, the nuclear standoff in Iran, and the ongoing civil strife in Lebanon are just a few of the problems that cannot be adequately addressed without robust United Nations involvement.
Without an engaged and supportive United States, the United Nations will be unable to fulfill its mission. Fundamentally, without a strong and capable United Nations, the United States will be unable to accomplish many of its own strategic objectives.
The good news is that with a new Congress, a new U.N. Secretary-General, and a new U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations there is a unique opportunity for positive change in this troubled relationship. While it may be difficult to fully repair U.S.?U.N. relations before a new U.S. administration can make a fresh start in 2009, there are several steps that the 110th Congress can take in the short run to demonstrate leadership and improve relations, thus improving the chances of pushing forward needed U.N. Secretariat, management, and budget reforms that affect U.S. interests.
In addition to the well-timed report on the U.S.-U.N. relationship, CAP also released the following Public Opinion Snapshot, Wanted: An Engaged U.N.
The Iraq war has not been kind to the notion that the United States should ignore the United Nations by unilaterally launching ?wars of choice? without the support of the international organization. No wonder the U.S. public, in a 2006 Chicago Council of Foreign Relations poll, agreed by a 60 percent-to-36 percent margin that the United States should be willing to make decisions within the U.N.?even if that means the United States may sometimes not be able to follow its first choice of course of action.
In fact, the American public is clearly interested in having the U.N. do more, not less. For example, 75 percent in the CCFR poll favored giving the United Nations authority to go into countries in order to investigate violations of human rights. Seventy-five percent also favored creating an international marshals service that could arrest leaders responsible for genocide. U.N. peacekeeping operations are also popular, with 72 percent in favor of a standing U.N. peacekeeping force selected, trained, and commanded by the United Nations. And 60 percent favored giving the United Nations the power to regulate the international arms trade.
As the General Assembly of the United Nations gathers in New York this week and next, the Bush administration’s new ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Kahlilzad, should heed these poll numbers by working to repair our damaged relationship with the U.N. Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle should also consider these poll numbers when they debate whether to pay the $1 billion the United States owes the U.N. in arrears for, among other things, peacekeeping operations around the globe.
