Term Paper on "Global Development Goals: The United Nations Experience"

Term Paper 5 pages (1678 words) Sources: 3 Style: Harvard

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Global Development Goals: The United Nations Experience

There has been much discussion on the issue of the United Nations and most importantly on the necessity of this global organization. Most of the opponents of this global forum have argued that the organization has dramatically failed to achieve the goals set at the San Francisco conference (Schlesinger, 2003). More precisely, it has been considered that the United Nations was not endowed from the very beginning with the power and mechanisms that would enable it to change the world for the better. However, Richard Jolly's article "Global Development Goals: the United Nations experience" argues differently; the author considers that despite the failures that have been obvious during the Cold War and the period following the demise of the U.S.S.R., the United Nations reached its aims; still, the author points out, more action needs to be taken in order to ensure that the efforts so far are rewarded and that improvements can be made.

His main points follow a logical path of argumentation which aims to conclude that although there have been certain failures the UN system deserves to evolve and increase in efficiency. In supporting this claim, he points out several issues which point out the answers to some of the best claims of the opponents of the UN system. In this sense, first and foremost, it has been argued, as the author suggests that the UN goals have been too idealistic. More precisely, this argument has often been invoked to support the idea of the failure of most UN missions in the world. However, Jolly underlines that fact that despite the fact that such goals are rather hard to attain, they are the result of intense negotiations with regard to particular details. Therefore, it can be said that from the point-of-view of Richard Jolly the Charter of the UN as well as the different other legal documents which state the ideals of the global organization are not simply declarative documents, but rather they represent the result of compromise and diplomacy. On the other hand, however, the eradication of poverty, the avoidance of war, as well as open diplomacy is even today considered to be unattainable. Nonetheless, Jolly considered their creation as an important step in shaping the policy framework of the activity of the future organization.

Jolly also points out the fact that one of the most important issues related to the UN and the goals it set for itself is the apparent universality of them. In this sense, he argues that despite the failures so far, the United Nations did bring a contribution to the decrease of the infant rate mortality. Therefore, he considers that indeed the issue of failures and successes must not be necessarily related to the national state; more precisely "although none of the goals have been achieved by the target date in all countries, several of the global goals have been achieved by developing countries as a group- for example the economic mortality to less that 120% by the year 2000" (Jolly, 2004). Therefore, from the point-of-view of the argument presented, it appears that the UN must be taken into account for its merits rather than limitations. In this sense, "a considerable number of developing countries have individually achieved many of the goals by the target date or soon after. An even larger number of developing countries have accelerated action in the area or sector concerned, compared with previous trends, even if they have not reached the goal itself" (Jolly, 2004).

The reason for the failure of the UN in certain areas of activity is the lack of capacity of the states to perform in accordance to the principles set by the UN, Jolly argues. More precisely, it is considered that although the UN is a global organization, it is the state which must offer the economic and political structure that would enable the goals to be achieved. However, a major point in the discussion is given by the fact that there is a lack of coherence between the understandings of the notion of goal achievement. In this sense, while the Breton Woods Institutions, such as the IMF or the World Bank see these goals in terms of figures and at a collective level, they focus at the same time on separate negotiations. However, taking into account that some countries perform better in a community of states, the eventual results of the process of goal reaching cannot be determined at the level of an individual country. Thus the declared results are mixed and inconclusive. From this point-of-view Jolly considers that a proper consideration of the goals and of the effects of the activity of the UN should be done in terms of general ideas such as decolonization, smallpox eradication, reduction of child deaths.

From the perspective Jolly made the analysis which entangles a differentiated view of the achieving of some of the global goals, it appears that the UN has indeed improved the quality of life, the economic aspect of developing countries, and the situation of states in general. More precisely, he views the decolonization process as a successful project of the UN, among the "goals largely achieved"; as "goals considerably achieved," the author mentions "acceleration of economic growth to reach a minimum of 5% by the end of the 1960s and to average 6% over the 1970s; raise the share of developing countries in global industrial production to 25% by 2000; raise life expectancy to 60 years at a minimum by 2000" (2004, 72). Nonetheless, these statistics are taken into account partly at an individual level and partly at the group level, a perspective which clearly changes the way in which the goals achieved are portrayed. The improvement of water supply and of its quality, the modest yet constant economic rise of certain countries are labeled by Jolly as "goals partly achieved," whereas halving the rate of illiteracy, achieving a 7% economic growth, and the doubling of the national income of least developed countries are considered to be "goals failed or almost totally failed" which affected a large majority of the countries targeted (2004, 72-3).

In order to improve the capacity of the implementation of the goals, Jolly underlines the need for an increased partnership between developing countries and the donor countries, as he considered that the goals which failed were strongly related to the actions undergone by developed countries. In this sense, he points out the two different ways in which the implementation of the goals is undergone; thus, in relation to major goals such as economic growth, the UN is a mere intermediary between poor and rich countries; at the same time, in terms of global health, the UN agencies such as the World Health Organization or UNICEF play the major role. In the first instance the implementation depends on the political factor in the countries involved, while in the second case this depends on the possibility of agencies and NGOs to support national efforts. The relation between all these factors determines the degree in which goals can be achieved. At this stage, there have been, according to Jolly, impressive achievements such as International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade initiative or the Universal Child Immunization goal. However, as Jolly concludes, there are also more questions to be answered and tackled such as the need for a more proper identification of the populations involved, of the countries engaged in a particular program, as well as that for a fragmentized system of success assessment.

Indeed, Jolly's point-of-view is one which entangles the analysis of global goals from a general perspective and especially taking into consideration the development aim. At the same time however, one cannot reach the conclusion he pointed out by simply discussing a limited number of initiatives that were effective… READ MORE

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