UN & Global Values/Project goals

Research question and aim of the research project
The research project is financed by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). The aim of the project is to map the global values that defined the birth of the United Nations (such as peace and security), and to describe how these values evolved over time and how they were complemented by other values (such as humanity and sustainability).
The research question consists of two parts, and is as follows:

How and to what extent did global values contribute to the birth and evolution of the United Nations system?
How and to what extent did the United Nations contribute to the evolution of global values?
Susbsequent questions need to be answered, such as: Is the United Nations, of which the Charter was drafted in 1945, still suitable for guiding the global community through modern times and challenges (such as terrorism and climate change)? To what extent did the United Nations play a leading role in the emergence and evolution of new normative views on international society? Has the international normative regime, whose skeleton was created with the establishment of the United Nations, caused renewed attention and acceptation of a ‘global morality’?

Methodology and Sources

The project will conduct a thorough and comprehensive research of the documents of the United Nations Conference on International Organization of 1945.
Research will be undertaken of the development of the law and practice at the United Nations throughout its existence, with particular attention to the UN General Assembly and Security Council.
We will closer examine the most influential and authoritative reports by expert panels and commissions, such as:

“North-South: A Program for Survival” (Brandt Report)
“Common Security: a Blueprint for Survival” (Palme Report)
“Our Common Future” (Brundtland report)
“Our Global Neighborhood” (Carlsson/Ramphal report)
“A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility” (Report by High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change).

The project also encompases an interdisciplinary examination of the essential literature on the topic (essential books in philosophy and ethics, law, and politics). Some of the essential books are discussed in the exploratory study by Koos van der Bruggen.