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The Dartmouth
July 10, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

More active U.N. role proposed

Three panelists called upon the United States government to take a more active role in the United Nations and improve global relations.

The panel discussion titled "Order or Chaos?: The U.N. and the Management of Global Problems" took place yesterday in the Hinman Forum of the Rockefeller Center for Social Sciences.

The panel was based on a paper by Government Professor Emeritus Eugene Lyons that addressed the U.N.'s changing role since 1945.

Lyons said the expansion of the U.N. from 50 members in 1945 to the current 185 members had a great impact on the structure and workings of the organization.

Nessim Shallon, a representative from the U.N. Development Program, said individual governments are becoming less important and the U.N. needs to be prepared to take on a growing role.

"Sovereignty nowadays has lost its traditional meaning," he said. "We have to wait to know what the members want us to do before we act."

Shallon called for stronger leadership from the U.N. when dealing with global conflicts.

"We are in the midst of new realities," Shallon said, "and the system has not yet developed to meet them."

Lyons said the most important issues the U.N. must focus on now are the legacy of the colonial period and global standards for environmental protection and human rights.

Panelist Hilary French '86, a specialist in sustainable development and the environmental impact of trade, said the potential exists for environmental issues to become security problems.

She said this "cocktail of insecurities" has been an underlying cause for recent conflicts, such as the civil unrest in Rwanda.

French called for a more centralized system of environmental governance and greater funding for the U.N. Environmental Program, which she said has funds "grossly inadequate to the task at hand."

One suggestion for funding environmental causes is a "Tobin Tax," a small tax on all foreign exchange transactions, she said.

Nitya Pibulsonggram '62, Thailand's ambassador to the U.N., was also scheduled to speak, but was not able to attend.