Abstract

The UN is able to recognize key global challenges, but beset by difficulties in trying to resolve them. In this, it represents the current global political balance, but is also the only international institution that could move it forward. Civil society can be a catalyst for this kind of change. In this book, Nora McKeon provides a comprehensive analysis of UN engagement with civil society. The book pays particular attention to food and agriculture, which now lie at the heart of global governance issues. McKeon shows that politically meaningful space for civil society can be introduced into UN policy dialogue. The United Nations and Civil Society also makes the case that it is only by engaging with organizations which legitimately speak for the 'poor' targeted by the Millennium Development Goals that the UN can promote equitable, sustainable development and build global democracy from the ground up. This book has strong ramifications for global governance, civil society and the contemporary debate over the future of food.
'Nora McKeon's book is a masterful investigation of how and why the UN system is (slowly) opening up to civil society - a key development in global governance. This is a major contribution and a rare bridge between academic scholarship and policy debate' Mario Pianta, University of Urbino 'This book is a tonic recipe for reinvigorating the UN by opening up its forums to the social actors most dramatically affected by globalization. This is required reading for all those concerned with global governance' Henri Carsalade, Former Assistant Director-General of FAO 'Nora McKeon's reflections will, we hope, contribute to making the UN the organization of "we the peoples" ' Mamadou Cissokho, Honorary President, West African Network of Peasant and Agricultural Producers' Organizations (ROPPA)
Nora McKeon studied history at Harvard University and Political Science at the Sorbonne, before joining the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. She held positions of increasing responsibility there, culminating in overall direction of the FAO's relations with civil society. She now divides her time between writing and lecturing on development discourse, peasant farmer movements and UN-civil society relations; and coordinating an exchange programme for African and European farmers on agriculture and trade policy issues. She recently published (with Michael Watts and Wendy Wolford) Peasant Organizations in Theory and Practice (2004).