Table Of Content00c_New World_i-viii 4/4/08 10:18 Page i
New World Disorder
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‘Aneloquentaccountof thedramaandturbulencewhichbuffetedthe
UnitedNationsattheendoftheColdWar.DavidHannaywasanadept
and skilful diplomat: he uses his insider knowledge to describe the
workings of the UN and the world of high diplomacy with style and
grace.Awonderfulresourceforallthosewhowanttounderstandhow
the United Nations works and why it remains the world’s indispensa-
bleinstitution’
KofiAnnan,formerUnitedNationsSecretaryGeneral
‘AsourrepresentativeattheUNduringacruciallydifficulttimeDavid
Hannay is remembered for his rigorous and clear sighted determina-
tion.Henowusesthesequalitiestodescribeindetailthemaindiscus-
sions and decisions of which he was part, dealing with Iraq, Bosnia,
Rwanda and a host of other issues. He clears away many of the over
simplifications which have clouded thinking about the UN. His book
shouldbeanessentialtoolforthepresentgenerationofpoliticiansand
diplomatsdealingwithinternationalaffairs’
DouglasHurd,formerUKForeignSecretary
‘It is hard to think of anybody better equipped to write on the United
Nations.David Hannay has seen the organisation from the inside and
asawould-bereformer.Hebringsthesubjecttolifenotonlybydraw-
ing on his own experience, but also through his sharp wit and cool
analysis’
ProfessorLawrenceFreedman,King'sCollege,London
‘Afrankandfullmemoir...LordHannayhasnoillusionsabouttheUN,
butequallynodoubtaboutitsindispensability.Heisexplicitaboutits
failings,buthisbluntcriticismsarealwaystemperedbyunderstanding
and constructive proposals, and occasionally salted by a certain black
humour’
ProfessorMichaelHoward
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New World Disorder
The UN after the Cold War:
an Insider’s view
David Hannay
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Publishedin2008byI.B.Tauris&CoLtd
6SalemRoad,LondonW24BU
175FifthAvenue,NewYorkNY10010
www.ibtauris.com
IntheUnitedStatesofAmericaandCanadadistributedby
PalgraveMacmillan,adivisionofSt.Martin’sPress,175FifthAvenue,
NewYorkNY10010
Copyright©2008LordDavidHannay
TherightofLordDavidHannaytobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeen
assertedbyhiminaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,oranypart
thereof,maynotbereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,or
transmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,
recordingorotherwise,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher.
ISBN:(HB)9781845117191
AfullCIPrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
AfullCIPrecordisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:available
DesignedandTypesetby4wordLtd,Bristol,UK
PrintedandboundbyTJInternationalLtd,Padstow,Cornwall,UK
00c_New World_i-viii 4/4/08 10:18 Page v
Dedication
Toallthosewhohaveworkedoverrecentyearstomakethe
UnitedNationsmoreeffectiveandmoreequitable
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David Hannay was a British diplomat for 36 years. He was Britain’s
Permanent Representative to the European Union and then, between
1990 and 1995, to the UN. Following his retirement from diplomatic
service, he was the British Special Representative for Cyprus and a
member of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Threats,
Challenges and Change. He is the author of Cyprus: The Search for a
Solution.
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Contents
1. Apersonalintroduction 1
2. TheUnitedNationsattheendof theColdWar 7
3. Theworkof theUnitedNationsanditsstructure 11
4. 1990:Reversinganaggression 27
5. 1991:Warandpeace;andstatefailure 43
6. 1992:Thecrestof thewave 75
7. 1993:Thetippingpoint 119
8. 1994:Theheartof darkness 155
9. 1995:Recessional 185
10. Thepathtoreform 197
11. TheHigh-LevelPanelonThreats,Challengesand 211
Change:thepeopleandtheprocess
12. ThePanel’sreport 223
13. FromthelaunchtotheSummitandbeyond 271
14. Lookingbackandlookingahead 291
Index 315
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Chapter I
A personal introduction
By the beginning of 1990 I had been serving for more than four years
asBritain’spermanentrepresentativeandambassadortotheEuropean
Communities(EC).Thefirstthreeyearsof mytimehadbeenaperiod
ofconsiderableprogressinBritain’softenfraughtrelationshipwiththe
rest of Europe.It was too good to last.By the end of 1988 Britain was
onceagainsailingbackintostormyseas.MargaretThatcherhadmade
clear in her Bruges speech of September of that year her visceral aver-
sion to any further integration. The determination of most of our
Europeanpartnerstopressaheadwiththeprojectforaneconomicand
monetary union and a single currency set them and the British
government on a collision course. And the handling of our policy
towardsthe prospectof a re-unifiedGermany,in the period following
the fall of the Berlin Wall, set us at odds not only with our main
Europeanpartners,butalsowiththeUSadministration.
Permanent representatives do not make policy, although they are
oftenclosetoitsmaking;andtheythenhavetoexecuteit.Iwasaselated
andencouragedbythesuccessesoftheearlieryearsasIwasworndown
and depressed by the difficulties that then arose. Moreover, from the
timeofthefallingoutbetweentheprimeministerandherforeignsec-
retaryandchancelloroftheexchequeroverBritain’smembershipofthe
Exchange Rate Mechanism at the Madrid European Council in the
summerof1989,ithadbecomeclearthatMargaretThatchernolonger
welcomed or paid much attention to such advice as I put forward.
Negotiations were due to begin in mid-1990 on two extremely con-
tentiousprojectsintheInter-GovernmentalConferencesonEconomic
Description:The end of the Cold War triggered a historic shift in world politics, and nowhere was this more keenly felt than in the United Nations. This is an insider’s account of that turbulent period. Lord Hannay, who, as Britain’s representative to the UN, sat in the Security Council from the time of
