1945’s Forgotten Insight: Multilateralism as Realist Necessity

Plesch, Dan; Weiss, Thomas G.

Abstract

The 70th anniversary of the signing and entry into force of the UN Charter provided an occasion to explore the historical underpinnings of contemporary global governance. This article redresses the neglect of the United Nations as a multilateral structure before the conference that drafted the Charter in 1945. It rehabilitates an underappreciated aspect of the period that began on January 1, 1942, with the “Declaration by United Nations,” namely, the combination of multilateral strategies for military and human security to achieve victory in war and peace. The wide substantive and geographic resonance suggests the extent to which the pressures of the second war to end all wars helped states to overcome their disinclination to collaborate. Today’s fashionable calls for “good enough” global governance abandon the strategy of constructing robust intergovernmental organizations; they are not good enough, especially, because our forebears did much better. Many insights and operational approaches from 1942 to 1945 remain valid for addressing twenty-first-century global challenges.

Citation

Plesch, D., & Weiss, T. G. 1945’s Forgotten Insight: Multilateralism as Realist Necessity. International Studies Perspectives, 17(1), 4-16. https://doi.org/10.1093/isp/ekv013

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Nov 4, 2015
• Deposit Date: Nov 6, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 7, 2016
• Journal: International Studies Perspectives
• Print ISSN: 1528-3585
• Electronic ISSN: 1528-3577
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 4-16
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/isp/ekv013
• Additional Information: Additional Information : First published online: 4 November 2015