The UN is terminally paralysed

Intelligence Squared debates on BBC World

Event Information:
The UN doesn't seem much good at keeping the peace. It did nothing for Darfur. Its 17,000 blue helmets in Congo, the largest ever peacekeeping force, have entirely failed to stop the violence in North Kivu province. It couldn't even make up its mind to do anything about Burma. Is the UN past its sell-by date? Would it not be better for the world's democracies to create alongside the UN a more dynamic body - a League of Democracies - which could take decisive action to avert yet another humanitarian catastrophe, rather than sit dithering on the sidelines? Or would this organisation only serve to undermine the UN which, though it no doubt needs reform, is the world's sole if fragile source of collective legitimacy?

This debate was filmed for broadcast on BBC World News.
The debate took place at: Cadogan Hall.

Speakers for the motion:
Robert Kagan Senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and expert in U.S. national security and foreign policy. He served in the State Department from 1984 to 1988 as a member of the Policy Planning Staff, as principal speechwriter for Secretary of State George P. Shultz. He is listed as one of the world's "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines. Dr. Kagan writes a monthly column on world affairs for the Washington Post, and is a contributing editor at both the Weekly Standard and the New Republic. His most recent book is The Return of History and the End of Dreams.

Radek Sikorski Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs who in August 2008 signed a missile defence agreement with Condoleeza Rice, the US Secretary of State. Born in Poland, he came to Great Britain as a political refugee in 1981, graduated from Oxford University and became a freelance war reporter. From 2002 to 2005 he was a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington D.C. and Executive Director of the New Atlantic Initiative. He was Polish Minister of Defence from 2005 to 2007.

Denis Macshane MP Minister of State for Europe at the Foreign Office from 2002 to 2005. He remains on the Council of Europe and is a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. In 2005 he became a signatory of the Henry Jackson Society principles, advocating a proactive approach to the spread of liberal democracy across the world, including by military intervention.

Speakers against the motion:
Sir Jeremy Greenstock Former UK Permanent Representative at the United Nations in New York (1998-2003) and UK Special Envoy for Iraq (September 2003-March 2004). The two themes of his diplomatic career were the Middle East and US/Western European Relations, and he spent a total of ten years in Washington and New York on US and transatlantic business. Since 2004 Sir Jeremy has been Director of the Ditchley Foundation, the Conference Centre in Oxfordshire which focuses on international policy issues. He also works as a Special Adviser to the BP Group.

The Rt Hon Lord Malloch-Brown Mark Malloch-Brown was appointed the Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN attending Cabinet in June 2007. He served as Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations from April to December 2006. After stepping down from the UN, he briefly took up the roles of Vice Chairman of Soros Fund Management and of the Open Society Institute. Before the UN, he worked at the World Bank serving as Vice-President for External Affairs and Vice-President for United Nations Affairs from 1996 to 1999.

Shashi Tharoor Enjoyed a career of nearly 29 years with the United Nations, including working for refugees in South-East Asia at the peak of the "boat people" crisis, handling peace-keeping operations in the former Yugoslavia, and culminating in 2007 as the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. In 2006, he was India's candidate to succeed Kofi Annan as UN Secretary-General, and emerged a strong second out of seven contenders. He is a prize-winning author of ten books, both fiction and non-fiction, and is a widely-published critic, commentator and columnist.

Chair:
The event was chaired by Zeinab Badawi. One of Britain's best known radio and television presenters. A well-known face on BBC World News, she currently anchors World News Today on BBC Four. Interviewees have included Bill Gates, President Clinton and the Dalai Lama. Zeinab is a trustee of the National Portrait gallery and the British Council.


Debate: The United Nations is terminally paralysed: the democratic world needs a forum of its own
In the second in the series of Intelligence Squared debates on BBC World News, a distinguished panel in London debated whether "The UN is terminally paralysed: the democratic world needs a forum of its own".

More than eight hundred people packed into Cadogan Hall to watch the event and millions more will get a chance to see it over the weekend of Feb 7/8th when it will be shown around the world.

Transmission times for BBC World News: Saturday 7th February 07:10, 15:10, 20:10 GMT. Sunday 8th February 01:10, 07:10, 15:10 and 20:10 GMT. Transmission times for BBC Parliament: Monday 16th February 19:10. Saturday 21st February 21:00. The debate will also be available on the BBC iPlayer.

Intelligence² audience confirms 500 to 240 votes against the motion.