Keeping The UN Out Of Iraq
Here's one argument for why the UN shouldn't be responsible for rebuilding Iraq:The United Nations and international allies promised to rebuild democracy in Bosnia. Seven years later, they have departed -- only to hand over responsibility for the semi-state to the European Union. They failed again in Kosovo, where they are preventing a civil war but have brought little movement toward self-government in their four-year reign. In Afghanistan, international aid is coming too little and too late to support the fragile government.
The logic behind not letting the UN get their hands on Iraq really boils down to something like "shared responsibility means nobody's responsible".
The failure of these efforts to build autonomous, sovereign democracies lies in the very structure of international coalitions. Coalitions diffuse responsibility. When Bosnia failed to arrest war criminals, each coalition member could blame its compatriots. No one felt responsible for ensuring the legitimacy of the coalition -- or the success of the country. [link via IP]
The logic behind not letting the UN get their hands on Iraq really boils down to something like "shared responsibility means nobody's responsible".
The failure of these efforts to build autonomous, sovereign democracies lies in the very structure of international coalitions. Coalitions diffuse responsibility. When Bosnia failed to arrest war criminals, each coalition member could blame its compatriots. No one felt responsible for ensuring the legitimacy of the coalition -- or the success of the country. [link via IP]
# | April 28, 2003