Reforming the United Nations: State of Play, Ways Forward

The need to reform the United Nations to adapt the organisation to new global power configurations has been widely recognised. Yet these reforms have often been hampered by a lack of global consensus on how they could be carried and what they would entail. The UN 'reform agenda' touches upon virtually all areas of the organisation's activities, including peace support, development and human rights. The proposals also concern institutional issues, including budgetary and management reforms of the UN system. This paper takes stock of progress in key areas of reform and outlines possible ways forward.