International Organizations

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Why did the United States fail to join the League of Nations?

Asked by Adepoju Adeola Praise, from Eastern Mediterranean University

The League of Nations was championed by President Woodrow Wilson in a fourteen-point speech to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918, and formally began its operations in January 1920. However, the League failed to win Senate approval and is forever remembered as a major example of a communications breakdown between the president and the Senate.

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What will be the effect of the UN Arms Trade Treaty on the Syrian conflict?

Asked by Gabriel

The UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was passed on March 28, 2013, and seeks to regulate and limit trade in arms in circumstances of human rights violations. Unfortunately, it will have minimal effect on the Syrian conflict. Syria's own vote against the treaty, along with Iran's and North Korea's, sounded the death knell for a universally applicable treaty to limit small arms, ammunition, and conventional weapons technology.

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Audio

A Conversation with Helen Clark

Speaker: Helen Clark
Presider: George Rupp

Helen Clark discusses the 2013 Human Development Report, The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World. The report identifies more than forty developing countries that have done better than expected in human development in recent decades, with their progress accelerating markedly over the past ten years.

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Video

A Conversation with Helen Clark

Speaker: Helen Clark
Presider: George Rupp

Helen Clark discusses the 2013 Human Development Report, The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World. The report identifies more than forty developing countries that have done better than expected in human development in recent decades, with their progress accelerating markedly over the past ten years.

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How long will it take southern Europe to rebound from the eurozone crisis, and how will that affect the rest of Europe?

Asked by Jackson Ryan, from King HS

The debt crisis that has hammered southern Europe since 2010 will have long-lived economic effects, despite the moderation in Spanish and Italian government borrowing costs since the European Central Bank's "Outright Monetary Transactions" initiative last September.

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Do you foresee UN Security Council reform in the near future, and if so, in what form?

Asked by Andrew K

The UNSC is unlikely to be altered any time soon. Any resolution to expand the UNSC would need to garner the support of two-thirds of the 193 members of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), or 129 votes, as well as endorsement by the five permanent members to succeed.

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Interview

A Growth Strategy for Greece

George Papandreou interviewed by Christopher Alessi

The EU and IMF should loosen the austerity requirements of Greece's bailout package to allow the indebted country to implement needed growth-enhancing policies, says former prime minister George Papandreou.

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What can international organizations do to support civil institutions in developing states?

Asked by Jack Glore, from William Paterson University

Civil institutions are critical pillars of democratic accountability—without them, democracy remains elusive, regardless of the laws written in constitutions. This is particularly true in countries dependent on oil and other natural resource wealth, and those struggling to realize democratic transitions.

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