The project is publicizing the main conclusions as widely as possible in order to stimulate debate on the importance of the UN in the 21st century. The 60th anniversary of the UN in October 2005 provided the impetus to accelerate dissemination efforts as well as to stimulate additional exploration of the UN's record by academics and graduate students, by journalists and policy analysts, in both developed and especially developing countries.

PAST EVENTS: 2008

The Hague, The Netherlands, 11 December 2008
Conference: The United Nations and the Evolution of Global Values
Thomas G. Weiss gave a presentation on the UN Intellectual History Project for a master class at Leiden University on 11 December, and on 12 December will give a presentation on The UN and Global Values.

Colombo, Sri Lanka, 5 December
Redistribution with Growth Seminar
Richard Jolly drew on UNIHP findings for his keynote address at a seminar on Redistribution with Growth.

Santiago, Chile, 25 November 2008
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Tagi Sagafi-nejad gave a lecture based on his recently published book, The UN and Transnational Corporations: From Code of Conduct to Global Compact.

New York, New York, 18 November 2008
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Thomas G. Weiss and Sir Brian Urquhart gave a talk entitled, “What’s Wrong with the United Nations and How to Fix It,” hosted by Vartan Gregorian at the Carnegie Corporation.

The Hague, The Netherlands, 16 October
Institute of Social Studies
Richard Jolly spoke at the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague on human development and basic needs, in a seminar marking the election to a professorship of Professor Rolph van der Hoeven.

Sofia, Bulgaria, 10 October 2008
Bulgarian Academy of Science
Louis Emmerij gave a talk at the Bulgarian Academy of Science about the evolving nature of economic and social development strategies, which drew on UNIHP’s findings and conclusions.

Budapest, Hungary, 6-8 October 2008
Hungarian Academy of Science, The Budapest School of Economics
Louis Emmerij presented UNIHP findings about the evolving nature of economic and social development strategies at the Hungarian Academy of Science and at the Budapest School of Economics.

Warsaw, Poland, 28 September - 2 October 2008
Polish Institute of International Affairs, School of Economics of Warsaw University
Louis Emmerij gave presentations about the evolving nature of economic and social development strategies at the Polish Institute of International Affairs and at the School of Economics of Warsaw University.

Geneva, Switzerland, 24 -28 June 2008
EADI General Conference
Louis Emmerij spoke about "The Future of Ideas in the UN" at the EADI General Conference in Geneva from 24 to 28 June 2008.

New York, New York, 17 June 2008
UNU-UN Midday Forum: "Preventive Diplomacy at the UN"
Drawing from his recently published book, Preventive Diplomacy at the UN, Bertrand G. Ramcharan traced the progression of preventive diplomacy at the UN, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses, and commented on the prospects for preventive diplomacy in the current era dominated by the new challenges of genocide and terrorism.

Bonn, Germany, 5-7 June 2008
ACUNS 2008 Annual Meeting, "The UN and the Global Development Architecture"
Richard Jolly was the keynote speaker at the 2008 ACUNS Annual Meeting, giving a presentation entitled "Discoveries from the UN Intellectual History Project, 1999-2008."

Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 24 May 2008
National Sun Yat Sen University
Tagi Sagafi-nejad gave a lecture on "Multinational Corporations, Scandals, Codes and Controls" at National Sun Yat Sen University in Taiwan.

Tarrytown, New York, 12-17 May 2008
"UN Ideas Changing History"
At the Rockefeller Pocantico conference site in Tarrytown, NY, the project's co-directors, Louis Emmerij, Richard Jolly, and Thomas G. Weiss, integrated comments on the penultimate manuscript from the Helsinki meeting in April, into the final manuscript tentatively entitled UN Ideas Changing History.

Washington, D.C., 12 May 2008
The World Congress of Statistics
Michael Ward was invited to address the Opening Session of The World Congress of Statistics where he gave the talk "The Quiet Triumph of the UN Statistical System." The paper presented will be included in a selected "Collection of Papers" from the Congress to be published.

Oxford, United Kingdom, 1 May 2008
Trinity Term Seminar Series, International Gender Studies Centre
Devaki Jain gave a talk on "How Women do Development: Feminist Economists Influence India's Eleventh Five Year Plan" at the University of Oxford.

Turku, Finland, 27 April 2008
National Committee for UNIFEM in Finland
Devaki Jain was the Special Speaker at the national meeting of the National Committee for UNIFEM in Finland. She spoke on the "Role of UN Organs in National Development."

San Francisco, 26-29 April 2008
International Studies Association, 49th Annual Meeting
Based on the forthcoming publication in Global Governance (vol. 15, no. 1, January 2009), Thomas G. Weiss presented “The ‘Third’ United Nations,” which will be a major element and finding in the project’s final volume.

Helsinki, Finland, 24-25 April 2008
"UN Ideas in Action: Past, Present, Future"
This two-day workshop, organized by The United Nations Intellectual History Project in association with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, focused on two topics. A small group of commentators discussed the penultimate draft of the final project synthesis volume, UN Ideas Changing History, being written by the project’s co-directors (Louis Emmerij, Richard Jolly, and Thomas G. Weiss). Public presentations for academics, public officials, NGOs, and the media were organized around the conclusions of four of the projects books, with presentations by their authors: Devaki Jain, S. Neil MacFarlane, B. G. Ramcharan, and Sarah Zaidi.

Helsinki, Finland, 22 April 2008
University of Helsinki
Devaki Jain gave a public lecture on Women, Development and the UN; Strategies for Feminist Intervention in Public Policy; and the Indian Macro Economic Planning Process.

Paris, France, 17-18 January 2008
International Science Committee for the UNESCO History Project
Based on UNIHP experience to date, Thomas G. Weiss made commentary on “UNESCO and the Cold War,” UNESCO and Issues of Colonization and Decolonization,” and “Towards the Transnational History of International Organizations."

2009 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004

What's New
PRESS: The UN and Development: From Aid to Cooperation and UN Ideas That Changed the World

RECENTLY PUBLISHED: The UN and Transnational Corporations: From Code of Conduct to Global Compact; Preventive Diplomacy at the UN; Human Rights at the UN: The Political History of Universal Justice; and The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations (now in paperback)

BRIEFING NOTES: Read our newest notes

SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES: Check the calendar