This page was last updated on June 4, 1998

International Organizations and Conflict Resolution

Institute for International Studies, Korea University

29 June - 10 July 1998

 

The Workshop on International Organizations and Conflict Resolution will be directed by thew York University. Participants should consult the course syllabus, which has been posted on-line. A slightly revised version was posted on 4 June.

In preparation for the course, participants are encouraged to read some of the background material prepared by the professors. Many of these are posted on-line. Others will be sent shortly.

The course has three segments: on international organization (sessions I1-I9), conflict resolution (sessions N1-N5) and a simulation of an international negotiation (sessions S1-S4).

For the segment on international organizations, students are requested to read:

John Mathiason, Managing the global commons: reform and the role of the United Nations beyond the nation-state

John Mathiason, Managing Global Governance

United Nations Charter

For the segment on conflict resolution, students are requested to read

To be posted later

For the segment on a simulation, students are requested to read

United Nations Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers and their Families

General Assembly resolution 52/115

Reference material

The United Nations itself maintains an excellent web site, which contains many of the documents produced by the organization. Current developments are often found in the news section, which also includes the daily press briefing by the Secretary-General's Spokesman usually the same day it is given. The daily schedule of UN meetings in New York is available as well.

Considerable information on the organizations of the United Nations system is found on the Internet. There is a central URL addressbook on the United Nations web page under the heading United Nations System

Within each organization's websites there is usually considerable information about the organization's activities. For example, the WIPO dispute resolution system is found in a page on the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre.

The World Trade Organization has an especially good website. Dispute settlement is one of the most important WTO functions, and the site gives up-to-date information about the state of disputes as well as background on the procedures. WTO has an extensive on-line document distribution facility.

Academic websites that contain material on the United Nations system and are worth checking include that of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS), which currently emphasizes peacekeeping, Yale University's United Nations Scholar's Workstation (take a look at their page on information by research topic), and IONet's (from the International Studies Association) information resources index. In addition, the International Relations and Security Network is a Europe-based source which is particularly good on the Geneva- and Vienna-based organizations.

More to come