With updates throughout, this newly revised fifth edition serves as the definitive text for courses dealing with the United Nations. Built around three critical themes in international relations-international peace and security, human rights and humanitarian affairs, and building peace through sustainable development-The United Nations and Changing World Politics, fifth edition, guides students through the complexity of politics and history of the UN. Students of all levels will learn what the UN is, how it operates, and what its relationships are with the universe of external actors and institutions, from sovereign states to the plethora of nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations now playing important roles in world politics. This new edition is fully revised to take into account recent events, including the aftermath of September 11th and the war on terrorism, the war in Iraq, the first deliberations of the International Criminal Court, and the largest-ever world summit on the occasion of the UN's sixtieth anniversary.