Paul Kennedy
The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present and Future of the United Nations
Toronto, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2006

Such a book as this, especially such a book as might be read by World Federalists, could hardly begin in any other way than by quoting Alfred Lord Tennyson's famous "Locksley Hall" and so indeed does Paul Kennedy begin. "Till the ward-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd / In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. / There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe, / And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law".
While, of course, Paul Kennedy has not actually written this book which gives a thorough and timely history of the United Nations, explaining its roots and functions while also critically analysing both its effectiveness past and present and its prospects for effectiveness in the future, specifically for World Federalists, it is a book that resonates indeed with our incremental federalist vision. As we strive forward to our particular vision of a 'Federation of the world', it is heartening to discover in a book like this, written by a former fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University and of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung in Bonn, not one, not two (as the index says) but actually three references to World Federalists. And they are references that simply take the existence of World Federalists for granted as an NGO working in a positive and helpful way towards good global governance and international relations.
This very readable book begins though not only with a note on the title, a commentary therefore on Tennyson and his poem, but also with some commentary on the influence that Tennyson's vision and his poem have had on those such as former US President Harry Truman, (P. Kennedy is after all an American) including such 'colour commentary' as the fact that Truman kept a copy of the poem in his wallet to be read out as a justification of his commitment to international organizations whenever the occasion should call for it.
This kind of 'colour commentary', used effectively and not over-used, is part of what makes this book so very readable and both realistic and positive. Kennedy clearly knows his subject matter inside out in both its strengths and its weaknesses but he is neither an unthinking apologist for the UN nor a dour critic. He assesses both the UN's strengths and weaknesses, sees its necessity for the world and cautions the world community to neither be too optimistic or too pessimistic about what it has done and is doing and can do. And he does all this, through a thorough analysis of some of the major thematic and governance streams of the UN, focusing not on the plethora of minutiae but on the major themes and streams. And he does it with a realistic touch and a sense of humour. He includes what my son would call such 'fun facts' as the irony that Germany and Japan are still referred to in the UN Charter, Article 53, as 'enemy states' and yet are now the second and third largest contributors to the UN budget. He also, when referring to the permanent five members of the Security Council, refers to them on one occasion as 'the grumpy P5'.
The book is helpfully divided into a number of sections with Part One, in Kennedy's words, telling "...a tale of the first, tentative steps that humankind - really their governments - took toward international accords, codes of ideas, and cooperative behaviour. It notes those intellectuals and public officials who urged the case for greater global cooperation and even the idea of global governance". It must, therefore, tell the story of the creation, evolution and collapse of the League of Nations as a way of deepening understanding of the ways in which the creation of the UN involved structures and ideas which were to correct the flaws of its predecessor. Kennedy reminds the reader here and then throughout the book that it is far too easy, from the standpoint of current context, to be critical of the UN, the Security Council in particular, of course. It is necessary to understand the post-war context of global power relationships and realities that caused the UN structures and procedures to be created as they were. That is not to say, and Kennedy has a section at the end of the book that outlines possible, desirable and necessary reforms to UN structures and procedures, that there should not be change, he thinks there should. But that change not only needs to be strategic and realistic. It also needs to take into account why things are the way they are. The current global realities and particularly the reality of 'failed states', the cross-border nature of terrorism and the fact that so many of the conflicts around the globe are internal to nation states, need, desperately need, UN processes and procedures to change in order to be effective. Fundamental to Kennedy's book is his belief that in order to make those changes effective, we have to understand why things were set up as they were.
Part Two of the book consists of "...six loosely linked chapters that examine the chief aspects of the world organization's missions and how well or poorly each purpose has been fulfilled in the decades between 1945 and our present times". This thematic approach makes it easier for the reader to appreciate the diversity of function of the UN, another one of Kennedy's strongly-made points throughout the book. It is so helpful to the western reader to be reminded that the UN is perceived of and functions in very different ways and capacities around the world. Kennedy takes all the current criticisms of the Security Council and its failures in such places as Rwanda, very, very seriously. He makes the point though that given the fact that the world's population has tripled since the creation of the UN and the world's economic reality has increased ten-fold, without such an increase being reflected in member states' grants to the UN, the complications under which the world body tries to function may not allow it to do much better. And while taking both the UN's constraints and failures seriously, Kennedy also clearly and articulately points out that life in many southern and developing parts of the world would be almost unimaginably worse without the work of such UN agencies as UNICEF.
And while Kennedy's detail and analysis of such visible UN realities as the Security Council and the role of the Secretary General, the latter of which this reviewer found to be particularly intriguing because of the parallels with her own role, also very helpful is his emphasis on and his reminder of the importance and achievements of what he calls the 'soft agendas' - work on what are often called women's and children's issues, human rights, health and cultural and intellectual affairs. He notes too the importance of such bodies as the Statistical Commission and the effect that it has had on how the world sees the world. We may not have yet been able to solve many of the world's problems in the areas of poverty, lack of resources, illiteracy etc., but we know where they are and the numbers of people affected by them.
Kennedy ends his book with some ideas for a way forward for the UN and many of them resonate strongly with our World Federalist, incremental vision of good, international governance. We may not, as World Federalists agree with some of the specifics he proposes, but we would certainly agree that one of the key questions which frames the whole discussion of the UN past, present and future, of UN reform, is the one that he articulates throughout the book (one of the book's few flaws is a tendency to repetition), the question "How are world citizens and their governments to reconcile universal human rights with claims for state sovereignty?" (Kennedy could perhaps have answered that with reference to the European Union, but remember, he is an American!). He talks about strengthening "...that three-legged stool of peace, development and democracy envisaged sixty years ago". And he talks about doing that by what he sees as the only way forward: "...intelligent, piecemeal reforms such as expanding the size of the Security Council; improving operational effectiveness in all aspects of peacekeeping and peace enforcement; abandoning the Trusteeship Council and the Military Staff Committee (but finding better ways to do their originally designed jobs); shaking up or abolishing the ECOSOC; improving the performance of the human rights [he has no use for a system that allowed Libya to chair the Human Rights Commission], environmental, and cultural agencies; establishing closer coordination with the Bretton Woods and other specialized agencies; and giving the workings and structure of the General Assembly a thorough overhaul". Always remembering, and something that World Federalists must remember in order to be most effective, that the tension in the global reality between sovereignty and internationalism is inherent and persistent, and unavoidable.
And three final points which are heartening to the complexity of this particular reviewer's reality. Kennedy is very affirming of NGOs, not just in his three references to World Federalists, but throughout the book. He sees the crucial import of their expertise and passion as a part of the voice, action and witness of civil society. And very related to this is his affirmation and knowledge of church organizations as important contributors to the reality of NGOs, as one of the key factors in ensuring transparency and awareness in such areas as human rights. And finally, on page 257 of The Parliament of Man, Kennedy commends the Canadians for their establishment of a standing force, ready, willing and able to respond immediately to any Secretary General request for troop contribution. It is, according to this book, in such specific endeavours and in knowing the historical and global realities of the UN's context that '...the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world' has the possibility of moving forward into a future 'lapt in universal law'.