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The seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations in 1945 invites us to look back at the achievement of creating this new organization even before the guns had fallen silent in World War II. It also prompts us to ask: Where is the organization today? How well has it fulfilled and is it still fulfilling the high ideals of its Charter? Even more importantly, how confident can we be that what has grown into the complex UN system will not just survive but also provide its member states and the peoples of the world with the organizational structures, resources, and tools needed to address twenty-first century challenges?

"Teaching International Organization" published on by Oxford University Press.

The next U.S. president will face a world in which multilateral institutions & diplomacy matter far more than at any time in the past. This importance arises from the nature of many contemporary issues, the proliferation in number & importance of nonstate actors, & the evolution of international diplomatic practice with the growth of multilateralism & pieces of global governance. This article addresses the broad need for U.S. foreign policy under the next administration to be more oriented toward multilateralism than it has been in recent years. In addressing this need, however, the next U.S. president will face a significant challenge in rebuilding US credibility, goodwill & soft power lost during the Bush administration. Symbolic gestures, words, & actions early in the new administration will be essential in demonstrating the United States' commitment to international law & organizations. Adapted from the source document.

1977 gründeten die Vereinigten Staaten zusammen mit Großbritannien, Frankreich, Kanada und der Bundesrepublik Deutschland eine Konsultationsgruppe (Contact Group), um multilateral einen international akzeptablen Plan zur Erreichung der Unabhängigkeit Namibias auszuarbeiten. Diese Gruppe initiierte einen Verhandlungsprozeß von fünf Jahren, arbeitete einen Lösungsplan aus und stellte die Akzeptanz der getroffenen Vereinbarungen durch die betroffenen Akteure sicher. Auf der Basis zahlreicher Interviews mit beteiligten Funktionären wird dieser multilaterale Annäherungsversuch analysiert und bewertet. (SWP-Bmt)

In April 1977 the United States and four other major Western governments embarked on a unique diplomatic exercise in the hope of negotiating an agreement for the independence of the territory of Namibia, or South West Africa. The "Contact Group" as it became known (or Western Five), consisting of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and the Federal Republic of Germany, functioned actively from April 1977 until mid-1982 as an ad hoc multilateral mediating and facilitating team in close proximity to but not directly linked with the United Nations. The five countries secured basic agreement in 1978 on a plan calling for UN supervised elections for a constituent assembly in the territory leading to early independence and the appointment of a UN special representative to ensure the necessary conditions for such elections.