Book Series on the UN System

Since its creation, ACUNS has showcased cutting-edge scholarly work on the UN system, multilateralism and international organization and connected that scholarly conversation with UN practitioners. In 2018, ACUNS partnered with Edward Elgar Publishing to design a book series as a forum for the very latest in academic research on topics which fall into the broad area of the United Nations and the UN system.

The “ACUNS Series on the UN System” is an interdisciplinary book series, and welcomed submissions for research monographs and edited books from scholars working in the fields of international politics, international organization, international law, human rights, justice, international development, human geography, security studies and global governance, amongst others. All books were subject to a rigorous process of peer review prior to publication. The Series Editors welcomed submissions from both established scholars and early career researchers.

Four books have been published in the series. For further details and to purchase the books, please visit Edward Elgar Publishing’s dedicated ACUNS Series site.

Series Editors

Alistair Edgar
Associate Dean | School of International Policy & Governance | Balsillie School of International Affairs

Lorraine Elliott
Professor Emerita | Department of International Relations, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University | Past-Chair of the ACUNS Board of Directors

Charlotte Ku
Professor and Associate Dean for Global Programs and Graduate Studies | Texas A&M University School of Law | ACUNS Director and Past President

Published Books

Inclusivity in Mediation and Peacebuilding:
UN, Neighboring States, and Global Powers

Daisaku Higashi | Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan

This book illuminates the key characteristics of inclusivity in mediation during armed conflicts and post-conflict peacebuilding. Based on first-hand experience and extensive research in conflict zones, Daisaku Higashi illustrates the importance of mediators taking flexible approaches to inclusivity in arbitration during armed conflicts, highlighting the crucial balance between the need to select conflicting parties to make an agreement feasible and the need to include a multiplicity of parties to make the peace sustainable. Higashi also emphasizes the importance of inclusive processes in the phase of post-conflict peacebuilding.

For further details and to purchase, please click here.

International Justice in the United Nations General Assembly

Michael Ramsden | Chinese University of Hong Kong

International Justice in the United Nations General Assembly probes the role that the UN’s plenary body has played in developing international criminal law and addressing country-specific impunity gaps. It covers the General Assembly’s norm-making capabilities, its judicial and investigatory functions, and the legal effect of its recommendations. With talk of a ‘new Cold War’ and growing levels of plenary activism in the face of Security Council deadlock, this book will make for timely and essential reading for all in the field of international criminal justice.

For further details and to purchase, please click here.

UN Reform: 75 Years of Challenge and Change

Stephen Browne | City University of New York

Over three-quarters of a century, the UN has been impacted by major changes in the balance of powers among its member states, and is today threatened by nationalistic instincts. In this book, former UN insider Stephen Browne documents the textured history and numerous faces of the UN, from peacekeeper to humanitarian and development actor to stalwart defender of global human rights.

For further details and to purchase, please click here.

Administrative Justice in the UN:
Procedural Protections, Gaps, and Proposals for Reform

Niamh Kinchin | University of Wollongong, Australia

The UN’s capacity as an administrative decision-maker that affects the rights of individuals is a largely overlooked aspect of its role in international affairs. This book explores the potential for a model of administrative justice that might act as a benchmark to which global decision-makers could develop procedural standards. Applied to the UN’s internal justice, refugee status determination, NGO participation and the Security Council, the global administrative justice model is used to appraise the existing procedural protections within UN administrative decision-making.

For further details and to purchase, please click here.