Issue Brief posted December 20, 2012 by Brett D. Schaefer
U.S. Needs Financial Leverage to Hold Line on U.N. Budget
The United Nations’ regular budget has grown reliably over the past six decades, with particularly sharp growth over the past decade. Last year seemed promising, as the initial U.N. regular budget for 2012–2013 was lower than the final expenditures for the previous biennial budget. However, that reduction was largely achieved through the negotiating gimmick of deferring…
Issue Brief posted October 19, 2012 by Brett D. Schaefer
The U.S. Should Withdraw from UNESCO
Last fall, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) granted membership to the Palestinian Authority. It did so despite clear warnings from Washington that this would necessitate an immediate freeze on all U.S. funding to the agency. Subsequently, President Obama stopped all U.S. financial contributions to the organization as required…
Backgrounder posted August 6, 2012 by Brett D. Schaefer
United Nations: Credits Owed Should Be Returned to Member States
Abstract: For years, the United Nations has retained surplus appropriations for closed peacekeeping operations and credits owed to the U.S. from the Tax Equalization Fund. U.N. financial rules and regulations state that the U.N. should “surrender” these funds (reimburse or credit them toward related assessments) after a specified period. Instead, the U.N. has retained…
Lecture posted February 14, 2011 by Brett D. Schaefer
The Role and Relevance of Multilateral Diplomacy in U.S. Foreign Policy
Abstract: Multilateral diplomacy is challenging. The dynamics are often more complex than bilateral negotiations because there are many more players. But while policies and venues may change, the role of diplomacy—to advance and promote the foreign policy objectives of the United States—is constant and does not change when the diplomacy is multilateral rather than…
Special Report posted September 21, 2010 by Kim R. Holmes, Ph.D.
Smart Multilateralism and the United Nations
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 between liberty and authoritarian socialism has stymied multilateralism more than…
Special Report posted September 21, 2010 by Baker Spring
Restoring the Role of the Nation-State System in Arms Control and Disarmament
Abstract:
The cause of the United States is the preservation of liberty, starting with its own. It is the most noble of callings, and U.S. leaders should never lose sight of this. The shortcomings of the U.N. system, particularly in arms control and disarmament, are increasingly focused, intentionally or unintentionally, on constraining our ability to defend…
America at Risk Memo posted May 17, 2010 by Steven Groves
The Interdependence of National Security and National Sovereignty
There is a clear difference of opinion between people who believe in a national defense policy directed solely by the protection of U.S. security interests and others—sometimes referred to as “transnational progressives”—who believe that the United Nations Security Council and other elements of the “international community” should have an influence on U.S. decisions…
Backgrounder posted March 23, 2010 by Paul Rosenzweig
How the EU's Lisbon Treaty Affects U.S. National Security
Abstract:
Yet another EU treaty has gone into effect. This time, it is the Treaty of Lisbon. All sorts of tedious rule changes will result, adding yet more layers of bureaucracy and confusion to the behemoth that is the European Union. Why should Americans care? Because embedded in all the bureaucratese and muddle of regulations is the more insidious element of…
Backgrounder posted March 16, 2010 by Sally McNamara
EU Foreign Policymaking Post-Lisbon: Confused and Contrived
Abstract:
The European Union finally succeeded in ramming through introduction of the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009. The treaty was touted by the powers in Brussels as the vehicle that would create the long-awaited "single phone line" to Europe. Lisbon was to streamline the gargantuan EU bureaucracy and make communication between the two sides of the Atlantic…