The North-South Divide at the United Nations: Fading at Last?

After an early period in which Western countries dominated the debates & decisions of most United Nations bodies, the era of decolonization introduced several decades during which UN debates (& sometimes votes) came to be organized mainly along a North-South divide. The authors provide a brief history of this often poisonous dynamic, then focus on three recent debates at the UN: the discussion surrounding the Brahimi Report on UN peace operations, the question of humanitarian intervention, & the issue of financing for development. They argue that while the North-South divide has hampered the work (& often the reputation) of the United Nations, a more sober, less ideological mood seems to have taken hold of the UN, particularly in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001. [Copyright 2002 Sage Publications Ltd.]