The Iraq Crisis and World Order: Structural and Normative Challenges

This report summarizes the Bangkok meeting discussions, focusing on insights relating to UN reform.

The first section discusses the nature of the disconnect between world order and current realities as revealed by the Iraq crisis. The second section focuses on structural challenges, in particular on the challenges posed by both the US’s preponderance of power and the lack of inclusiveness in UN decision making. The third section focuses on normative challenges posed by the disconnect between the norms enshrined by the UN and perceptions of legitimate responses to contemporary threats. The final section draws out implications for UN reform.