THE CHOICES PROGRAM BROWN UNIVERSITY
VIDEO COLLECTION

The United Nations: Challenges and Change

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Part I: The UN and the International Community

What is international law?
What makes international law effective?
Why is there a tension between state sovereignty and international law?
How has international law evolved?
How has the “veto” affected the UN?
What are some of the effective programs of the UN?
How did the U.S. relationship with the UN change after the Cold War?

Part II: Debating the UN’s Role

Why are there permanent seats in the UN Security Council?
What is your perspective on the priorities and structure of the United Nations?
Is the UN a democratic organization?
How has the 2003 invasion of Iraq affected the United States’ reputation within the UN?
How was the use of military force to protect civilians in northern Iraq in 1991 significant?
What are examples of unsuccessful peacekeeping operations?
Are states today closer or farther apart in their understanding of human rights?
How did the events in Somalia in the 1990s dampen enthusiasm for U.S. humanitarian intervention?
How was the UN military intervention in the former Yugoslavia significant?
What countries had sympathies with different groups in Yugoslavia?
What is civil society?
How was the United Nations involved in Bosnian peacekeeping?
What were important lessons of the UN intervention in East Timor?
How did NATO’s intervention in Bosnia set a precedent?
What are examples of successful peacekeeping operations?
Is the UN an effective peacekeeping body?
What are unilateralism, bilateralism, and multilateralism?
What is an example of effective multilateralism?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of multilateralism?
What are human rights?
What are human rights?
How does law protect human rights?
How does membership in the UN promote human rights?
What is the UN authorized to do when human rights are violated?
What is the relationship between international human rights law and state sovereignty?
How do other states view the U.S. human rights record?
What is ethnic cleansing?
What is the difference between genocide and ethnic cleansing?
When do human rights abuses become genocide?
When has the UN been unsuccessful in alleviating human rights abuses?
When has the UN been successful in alleviating human rights abuses?
How can the UN and other international organizations prevent human rights abuses?
Why did the UN reform its system of dealing with human rights in 2006?
In 2009, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president. Why is this a challenge to human rights law?
How are international courts becoming more important in addressing human rights abuses?
What is development assistance?
What are the Sustainable Development Goals?
What is public health?
Why is international collaboration on public health important?
Why is climate change a public health problem?
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