What measures have been undertaken by the United Nations for its reforms? (150 words) (2021, 10 Marks)
Reform began almost as soon as the Organisation did, and its record divides cleanly. Measures needing a Charter amendment under Article 108 have nearly all failed; measures taken by resolution, interpretation or the Secretary-General’s own authority have changed the institution a great deal.
Constitutional measures
- The Charter has been amended only three times, each time to absorb decolonised states: the Council enlarged from eleven to fifteen and ECOSOC from 18 to 27 (in force 1965), a consequential change to Article 109 (1968), and ECOSOC to 54 (1973).
- Security Council reform has been negotiated since 1993, in the Intergovernmental Negotiations since 2009. The co-chairs’ June 2026 elements paper records convergence on 21–27 seats, yet in July 2026 the talks were rolled over again without a negotiating text.
Administrative and financial measures
- 1986: under United States withholding, resolution 41/213 cut Secretariat staff by about 15% and made the budget subject to consensus, answering major funders’ complaint that states paying little could outvote those paying most.
- Kofi Annan’s Renewing the United Nations (1997): Track One measures within his own authority and Track Two proposals for member states, endorsed by the Assembly that year. These created the Deputy Secretary-General, a cabinet-style Senior Management Group, the UN Development Group and results-based budgeting.
- Ban Ki-moon: Delivering as One at country level and UN Women (2010), which merged four entities.
- António Guterres (2017–19): new peace and security departments, an independent Resident Coordinator delinked from UNDP (2019), delegated authority and an annual budget from 2020.
Normative and institutional measures
- The 2005 World Summit produced the Human Rights Council with Universal Periodic Review, the Peacebuilding Commission, R2P and an Ethics Office.
- The MDGs (2000) and SDGs (2015) gave development measurable targets.
- Resolution 76/262 (2022) requires an Assembly debate within ten working days of every veto.
- Our Common Agenda (2021) led to the Pact for the Future (2024).
- UN80 (2025–26), driven by a cash crisis, cut the 2026 budget to US$3.45 billion with about 2,900 posts abolished; resolution 80/251 (March 2026) set rules for creating and reviewing mandates.
Assessment
The pattern fits John J. Mearsheimer’s realist claim that institutions reflect power: the 1963 enlargement passed because no permanent member lost anything, and enlarging a body does not by itself make it work better. Managerial reform passes because it lowers costs for all, as Robert O. Keohane’s institutionalism predicts; reform that redistributes power stalls.
Conclusion
The UN has reformed what it does far more than who decides. India’s call for reformed multilateralism targets exactly that gap: without change in representation, UN80 remains retrenchment rather than reform.