United Nations International Civil Service : Perceptions, Realities and Career Prospects

The International Civil Service of the United Nations is not fully aligned with the compelling demands of the 21st century.

Once reputed as one of the most attractive organisations to work due to its noble objectives, global outreach, and attractive conditions of service, the world body has been fast losing its lustre and pulling power and its ability to perform.

As a result, the organisation has been sustaining loss in its ability to deliver on its principles, purposes and mandates in a timely, efficient and effective fashion and in its good will, image and reputation.

If it does not pursue far-reaching reforms urgently, particularly in the area of human resource management (HRM), the United Nations will surely decline and become irrelevant not too far into the future.

This book identifies strategic issues facing the HRM of the world body, analyses their impacts on its performance, suggests remedies to address these lacunas and proposes measures to make the entity competitive, efficient, and effective.

It tells you where you need to strengthen UN's HRM, where to make cutbacks, and where to remove duplication and overlaps. Frequent references to the HRM of the European Commission and national governments gives a refreshing taste of best practices.

This volume will make an interesting read for general readers and a great source of information for experts and professionals.

In particular, it is a must-read for politicians and diplomats as a reference source, for UN staff to have a better perspective of their HRM, and for academics and students of international relations, diplomacy and political science in universities and colleges as a textbook and reference material.

There is a special chapter to assist prospective new entrants seeking a career with the United Nations.

What makes this book special? It offers a unique insight from two distinguished professionals who have seen the United Nations work from inside and outside; very few other books on the world body present this unique perspective.

It also offers a balanced critique of the human resources management of the United Nations, without any bias for or against the organization. It provides a combination of the theoretical framework, the system as exists in the United Nations and comparison with the European Commission and several UN member states.