United States Foreign Policy and the United Nations System

The essays in this latest American Assembly title have been conditioned by the harsh fiscal realities facing the U.S. government and the real need for reform in the United Nations system. Assessing the diverse issues that surround the United States's policy toward the UN, contributors from a diversity of fields - law, government, academia, military - are united in their belief that, with work, it will be possible to forge a sound, bipartisan U.S. policy toward the UN system - and that it is critical for such an effort to begin immediately. As in other areas of foreign policy, budgetary considerations are now driving substance. The United Nations should not be shielded from careful budgetary examination, but it is crucial for the American people to engage in a rational debate to examine which UN activities are most in the United States's interest.