The United Nations has been changing its composition (membership), its group of 'controlling' or most influential countries, its focus (more health, environment, sustainability and education issues than resolution of member disputes), its methods (i.e., resembling government, it spends a great deal of time on semantics, political correctness and making somewhat unenforceable proclamations and sanctions), and with a decreasing thrall over its membership.
The UN has been called many things, among them: a "toothless tiger," a "bully pulpit," a "house of rhetoric with little precipitous action," and "an anachronism". Despite fear-fueled discussions about a UN military to enforce the purported agenda of the New World Order at odds against sovereign member states (and creating a question of conflicted loyalties between UN Peacekeeping troops and the individual soldiers, each patriots of their respective countries, but being required to enforce the directives of a "higher authority"), each country still makes its own decisions.
I believe that the UN might indeed be becoming irrelevant directly, and becoming more the puppet of the many NGOs which have cropped up around which act like lobbyists on the US' Capitol Hill. These Non-Governmental Organizations* are increasing in number, financing and influence.
* Some information regarding NGOs follows, courtesy of Wikipedia:
Non-governmental organization, or NGO, is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations (UN), and is normally used to refer to organisations that do not form part of the government and are not conventional for-profit business. In the cases in which NGOs are funded totally or partially by governments, the NGO maintains its non-governmental status by excluding government representatives from membership in the organization. The term is usually applied only to organizations that pursue some wider socialpolitical aspects, but that are not overtly political organizations such as political parties. Unlike the term "intergovernmental organization", the term "non-governmental organization" has no generally agreed legal definition. In many jurisdictions, these types of organization are called "civil society organizations" or referred to by other names. ####
For additional information on NGOs, here are some additional highly-informative websites:
http://www.ngo.org/
http://www.ngo-monitor.org/index.php
http://www.wango.org/resources.aspx?section=ngodir
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In addition to the growth in the influence and power of NGOs, which are not unlike cause-based nations unto themselves, the two other threats to the UN's relevance and potency are the 1) proliferation of global social media (the immediate and viral flow of information across the globe at a grassroots level), and 2) the increase in citizen ambassadorship, where citizens, as individuals and as operators of their own businesses conduct communications and commerce with minimal intermediation and intervention by their respective governments.
In summary, the three principal factors contributing to the UN's potential decline in relevance are these:
- Growth in the power, influence and role playing of the increasing number of NGOs;
- Growth in the proliferation and utilization of rapid-fire social media for grassroots, unofficial (and uncensored) communication of observations and ideas;
- Growth in the role of citizen ambassadors as independent arbiters of their own relationships and policies as they relate to generating income (profit motive) and accumulating wealth - for example as a citizen ambassador, I become more concerned with peaceful relationships between my home country and the countries where my joint venture partners, distributors, manufacturers, suppliers and customers reside. In effect, as we become increasingly internationalized through the reduction of barriers to entry (it's far cheaper to import, export and co-venture globally than ever before, with the advent of telecommuting, VoIP [Skype is a sensation] and inexpensive but enhanced collaborative media platforms integrating screen sharing-and web conferencing... Go To Meeting, anyone?).
1) Keep abreast of the activities of the NGOs -- these are advanced 'telegraph signals' of where the UN is heading. The NGO agenda is a predictor of UN focus and activity;
2) Keep abreast of developments involving large international and multinational companies, as they become more like nations beyond geographical borders;
3) Keep up-to-date on all advances in communications and conferencing technology, as well as in social media proliferation and the emerging spate of applications.
Possibilities:
This might be a very good time to consider becoming involved in international and transnational partnerships, and in becoming attached to one or more suitable NGOs. In fact, it might not be a bad time to consider chartering an NGO with other like-minded individuals. There is tremendous power in judiciously managed and positioned not-for-profit entities.
Douglas E Castle
http://TheGlobalFuturist.blogspot.com
http://InfoSphereBusinessAlerts.blogspot.com
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