Introduction    Printable Version

Part One: Individuals Make a Difference

1. Growing Up
• The Great Depression and the Demise of the League of Nations
• The Second World War
• Faith and Family Matters

2. Formal Education
• Education at Home
• Studying Abroad

3. Serendipity and International Careers
• Mentors Opening Doors
• Advanced Studies as a Gateway
• Post-University Homecomings
• Starting Out in Teaching and Research
• Beginning in National Public Service
• Juggling Family and Professional Life

Part Two: Hope, Creativity, and Frustration

4. From 1945 Through the 1950s: Hope Held High
• Establishment of the United Nations
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• The Marshall Plan
• The Cold War
• McCarthyism
• Decolonization and the Non-Aligned Movement
• The UN Regional Commissions

5. 1960s: Widening Development Avenues
• The First Development Decade
• UNCTAD and the Group of 77
• Technical Cooperation: The Road to UNDP
• Influence of the Major Powers

6. The 1970s: Creativity Confronts Geopolitics
• The Environment and Sustainability
• Oil Shocks and the NIEO
• Transnational Corporations
• The Least Developed Countries
• Basic Needs and Redistribution
• Women and Gender

7. 1980s: Development Frustrated
• Death of the North-South “Dialogue”
• The Debt Crisis and Adjustment: A Lost Decade
• The Washington “Consensus”
• The End of the Cold War and the Socialist Model

8. 1990s and the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century: Renaissance and Reform
• Globalization
• Human Development
• Human Security and the Responsibility to Protect
• Global Governance and the Millennium Development Goals

Part Three: The World Organization, Ideas, and
Twenty-First-Century Challenges

9. A Revolutionary Idea: The International Civil Service
• Good Old Days?
• Cold War Diversions
• Geographical Representation
• Women at the UN
• Organizational Culture
• Reform Difficulties

10. The Power of Ideas and People Inside the UN
• Leadership
• The Secretaries-General
• Tensions in the System
• Country Groups and International Negotiations

11. Blending Outside Intellectual Energies
• Outside Academics and Consultants
• Independent Commissions of Eminent Persons
• Nongovernmental Organizations and the Private Sector
• Global Conferences

12. The Legacy and Future Intellectual Challenges
• Ideas Change International Discourse
• Ideas Redefine State and Non-state Interests and Goals
• Ideas Facilitate New Coalitions
• Ideas Become Embedded in Institutions
• The UN’s Future Intellectual Challenges

Annex 1: Biographical Notes of Persons Interviewed
Annex 2: A Methodological Note: Making this Oral History
Notes
Index of Persons Interviewed
Index of Subjects
About the Authors
About the United Nations Intellectual History Project