The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations

This Handbook provides in one volume an authoritative and independent treatment of the UN's seventy-year history, written by an international cast of more than 50 distinguished scholars, analysts, and practitioners. It provides a clear and penetrating examination of the UN's development since 1945 and the challenges and opportunities now facing the organization. It assesses the implications for the UN of rapid changes in the world - from technological innovation to shifting foreign policy priorities - and the UN's future place in a changing multilateral landscape. Citations and additional readings contain a wealth of primary and secondary references to the history, politics, and law of the world organization. This key reference also contains appendices of the UN Charter, the Statute of the International Court of Justice, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Thomas G. Weiss is Presidential Professor of Political Science at The CUNY Graduate Center and Director Emeritus of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies. He was the 2016 Andrew Carnegie Fellow and past president of the International Studies Association and recipient of its '2016 Distinguished IO Scholar Award', chair of the Academic Council on the UN System, editor of Global Governance, and Research Director of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, he has authored or edited some 55 books and written 250 articles and book chapters about international peace and security, humanitarian action, and sustainable development.


Sam Daws is Director of the Project on UN Governance and Reform, in the Centre for International Studies, DPIR, at the University of Oxford, and directs the international political consultancy, 3D Strategy. He has spent thirty years in UN-related roles, including as Deputy Director (United Nations, Prime Minister's Post-2015 Development Team) in the UK Cabinet Office; Senior Principal Research Analyst, Multilateral Policy Directorate, FCO; First Officer in the Executive Office of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan; Executive Director, UNA-UK; Senior Advisor and UK Representative, UN Foundation; and as Visiting Fellow, International Law at Cambridge University. He has co-authored or edited fourteen books on the United Nations.