Abstract: The 2012–2013 U.N. regular budget is historic because it marks the end of a decade of unprecedented growth of the U.N. budget. However, the U.N. budget process suggests that this will likely be an aberration and that irresponsible budget growth will resume shortly.…
Abstract: In the six two-year budgets between 2000 and 2011, the United Nations’ regular budget grew by 117 percent. In its 2010–2011 budget, the U.N. spent a whopping $5.42 billion, with American taxpayers footing 22 percent of the bill. The 2012–2013 budget was expected…
Abstract: Countries that receive U.S. foreign aid routinely oppose U.S. diplomatic initiatives and vote against the U.S. in the United Nations. While linking humanitarian and security aid to support of U.S. policy priorities would undermine the purposes and effect of that aid, the effectiveness…
In recognition of budgetary constraints in America and other nations, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced that he will seek a 3 percent cut in his proposed biennial budget for 2012–2013. This cut and his proposals for implementing it fall far short of those necessary to make a lasting budgetary…
In growing recognition of the mounting budgetary crisis facing the United States, President Barack Obama and Congress reached agreement on a budget to pay for the remainder of fiscal year 2011 that includes significant cuts. Although contributions to the United Nations are not a large part of the U.S. budget,…
The United States is facing a budgetary crisis. In the coming months and years, Congress and the Administration will grapple with tough decisions on where to reduce spending and by how much. Although U.S. contributions to the U.N. system are not a large part of the budget, there is no…
Testimony before The Committee on Foreign Affairs United States House of Representatives Thursday, March 3, 2011 My name is Terry Miller. I am the Director of the Center for International Trade and Economics at…
The U.S. has been the largest financial supporter of the United Nations since the organization’s founding in 1945. The U.S. is currently assessed 22 percent of the U.N. regular budget and more than 27 percent of the U.N. peacekeeping budget. In dollar terms, the Administration’s budget for FY 2011 requested…
Abstract: In defiance of U.N. financial rules and regulations, the U.N. has retained more than $200 million in unspent funding for closed peacekeeping missions. Instead of returning these funds to U.N. member states as required, the U.N. Secretary-General has used them as a slush…
Abstract: The current U.N. development system promises too much and demands too little of its member governments. Its autocracy, secrecy, bureaucracy, and self-aggrandizement reflect the worst of its members. The U.N. Millennium Development Goals are noble aspirations, but they will not be achieved because…
The source and amounts of all U.S. funding to the myriad number of organizations affiliated with the United Nations are difficult to track accurately. This difficulty prompted Congress to pass legislation requiring the Administration to report annually on U.S. contributions to the U.N. A recent report to Congress by the…
Abstract: Multilateralism is not an end in itself. It is one of many foreign policy tools, admittedly a very important one, in the diplomatic kit. For the United States, multilateralism faces its greatest challenge at the United Nations, where the all-too-frequent clash of worldviews…
In a startlingly blunt manner, French President Nicolas Sarkozy today demanded that the United Nations be reformed and...…