However, the UN Charter has shown itself to be flexible and the Secretariat has been in an ongoing process of self-reform. The UN is the vehicle for dialogue and cooperation. The most efficient and effective governance is by compliance through the consent of the governed. Globally, this is created by a treaty-like process under UN auspices. As member States themselves reform, they can and will bring the UN along.
Transnational problems competing for attention on the global agenda are numerous.
Other issues competing for attention are the growing gap between the rich and poor, exacerbated by global market flows which tend to benefit the elites and hit hardest the most vulnerable in society, i.e., the elderly, the poor, women, and children. There is also a gap in the attention and response the international community is willing to expend on different issues. For example, key member States and financial institutions have acted quickly in recent years to regional economic crises but have reacted with less support and more slowly to humanitarian crises, ignoring many humanitarian tragedies which fester as a result of political conflict and decay. The ease of transnational flows are complex and work for and against positive global norms. The flow of ideas, technology, information, and global oversight operate in parallel with the trans-border flow of weapons, disease, drugs, and money laundering.