Author Description

a. The set generallySince the publication of its first edition in 1950, the Annual Review of United Nations Affairs has stood as the authoritative resource for scholars, students, and practitioners researching the latest developments of that august body. From the insightful introduction, prepared each year by a distinguished expert on UN affairs, to the full-text presentation of reports and resolutions and the helpful subject index, ARUNA provides a practical tour of each year's U.N. actions and debates. The expert selection of documents by Joachim Muller and Karl Sauvant and the topic-based organization of those documents make any researcher's task much easier than the vast searching, sorting, and pruning required by the U.N.'s website. The series' topic-based organization of the materials and subject index lend invaluable guidance to all researchers.ARUNA presents comprehensive documentation of the work of the UN on an annual basis, starting in September of each year with the beginning of the regular sessions of the General Assembly. Coverage of the UN's key organs is provided, including the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat. In addition, selected reports of intergovernmental bodies and expert groups are included. Solely official UN documentation is used. ARUNA occupies a special place in the publications on the work of the UN, as it allows readers to obtain an overview of the principal developments in its key organs. This makes it an important reference source for policy-makers and academic researchers.b. The 2009-2010 volumesThis year's edition continues to focus on the world financial crisis and the reaction of the United Nations and the international financial system to that crisis. The Overview to this year's edition, written by Joachim Muller and Karl Sauvant, examines the changing role of the United Nations and explores ways in which the management of the financial crisis has impacted that role.The Introduction to this year's edition also examines the effects of this crisis; this Introduction is drawn from the "Report of the Commission of Experts of the President of the United Nations General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System," as well as a slightly edited version of a Preface to that report written by Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz. The Introduction discusses the findings of the Commission and proposes the creation of a new institution, a Global Economic Coordination Council, which would be supported by an International Panel of Experts with a geographically diverse membership that would represent the interests of emerging and developing countries as well as those of developed countries.Dr. Joseph E. Stiglitz, who served as Chairman of the Commission and wrote the Preface to the Commission's Report, holds joint professorships at Columbia University's Economics Department and its Business School. He is also Co-founder and Co-President of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue. From 1997 to 2000 he was the World Bank's Senior Vice President for Development Economics and Chief Economist. From 1995 to 1997 he served as Chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers and as a member of President Clinton's cabinet. From 1993 to 1995 he was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers. He was previously a professor of economics at Stanford, Princeton, Yale, and All Souls College. Dr. Stiglitz is also a leading scholar of the economics of the public sector and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001 in addition to the American Economic Association's biennial John Bates Clark Award in 1979. His recent publications include Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy (2010), Making Globalization Work (2006), Fair Trade for All (2005), and Globalization and its Discontents (2002).The 2009-2010 volumes of ARUNA therefore also devote considerable atten