Headhunting for peace, among other things: A review

Part 1 focuses on conceptual and methodological issues part II is focused on origin, evolution and challenges of United Nations, while part III is based on accountability and mechanisms in the UN and part IV on the analysis of the way out for the organization.   As a matter of introduction, the book ‘Headhunting for […]

Part 1 focuses on conceptual and methodological issues part II is focused on origin, evolution and challenges of United Nations, while part III is based on accountability and mechanisms in the UN and part IV on the analysis of the way out for the organization.

 

As a matter of introduction, the book ‘Headhunting for World Peace-An Insider View of UN Employment Law and Practice is a very complex literature. It is written in a sophisticated tradition of a blend of academia and high profile international bureaucracy and diplomacy.

The result of this book is certainly a material for the high class academics, bureaucrats and diplomats. It will not make easy reading to passers-by and therefore necessary that the review is done in order to try to simplify the very technical issues raised in this high profile material.

Where the Book is coming from and where it is going to

UN is not a bureaucracy, it is mediocracy

The book is a critical assessment of the role of UN as a world body and its role in the contemporary world it is equally an attempt at assessing the daily activities in the UN Secretariat and the offices around the globe as well as recognizes the indispensible role and contributions of UN since its formation.

The book looks into the bureaucratic setting of UN with facts and details especially in the area of human resource management and what the interrelationship between the organization and the staff is.

UN as an object of analysis: Although UN is said to be a bureaucratic organization, the writer from his twenty years of experience, did not find the Organization possessing any of the qualities of bureaucracy as given by Marx Weber in addition to the view of right wing conservatives like Gold in 2005 who described UN bureaucracy as morally failing, because they could not subdue the aggression, war, while shown 2006 argued that UN is a security threat to corruption.

In the view of the author, UN is a globally owned organization not regional or state owned. Most of his source is from secondary sources like textbooks, journals, reports  etc.

Purpose  and Scope of Study: The purpose of the study according to the book is to look into the human resources management in terms of employment, UN staff strength, staff management and the interrelationship between UN and its staff. The book is restricted within the various organs of UN and the departments. Their workings and how equipped they are in terms of human resources so that they can meet up with the ever increasing new challenges that UN is facing in the globe as a global body.

UN Role and Significance: UN serves as a voice to the nation, it promotes collective action, encourage peaceful resolution of disputes. A large chunk of UN finances is tailored  towards- Electoral assistance and observation, women empowerment, poverty alleviation, humanitarian assistance, refugee settlement etc.

UN also controls the proliferation of arms and has established forums for negotiation which leads to world security.

The book argues further that the UN has supported and established the millennium development goal project which is aimed at stabilizing  the economy of developing countries although it has been criticized by some in the name of its failing because of bad governance.

Structurally, the UN has 18 departments, 10 regional commission, 20 specialized agencies. In a critical assessment of whether UN is useful to the world or not, the author answered emphatically that UN is indispensible to the world and if it has not been in existence, there would still have been other organization like it. With all the crises, the war and clashes among nation there would have been a total ruining of the world if not for UN that served as a platform for negotiation and diplomatic conflict resolution.

Positive Contributions & Downside:  according to the author, the UN has separated opposing nations and has settled disputes amicably and diplomatically. It has seen to the end of apartheid in South Africa and Namibia in 1990. This has led to wide recognition of the organization and receipt of several awards.

Aside from the positives, the book presents some downsides of the organization as well, it is argued that the UN often duplicates projects already  carried not by nations and has failed in settling the conflicts in Liberia and Somalia. Equally mentioned is the refusal to do proposals that can directly help the citizens but spending money on gatekeepers, enforcers of law etc as well as the inability to tackle the genocide in Rwanda, and the clash between the USA and Kofi Anan of over Iraq crises

(Continued next week)