Over a billion people living in abject poverty will have had neither the spirit nor the means to cheer the arrival of the new millennium. The reality of human insecurity cannot simply be wished away. The comparative advantages of the United Nations are its universal membership, political legitimacy, administrative impartiality, technical expertise, convening and mobilizing power, and the dedication of its staff. Its comparative disadvantages are excessive politicization, ponderous pace of decision-making, impossible mandate, high cost structure, insufficient resources, bureaucratic rigidity and institutional timidity. Many of the disadvantages are the product of demands and intrusions by 188 Member States who own and control the Organization, but some key members disown responsibility for giving it the requisite support and resources.
Universities are the market-place of ideas.
In an information society and world, the comparative advantage of UNU lies in its identity as the custodian and manager of knowledge-based networks and coalitions that give it a global mandate and reach. The United Nations has the responsibility to protect international peace and promote human development. The UN Charter codifies best-practice State behaviour. Scientists have a duty to make their knowledge available for the betterment of humanity. UNU has the mandate to link the two normally isolated worlds of scholarship and policy-making.