Do we need the United Nations? Would the contemporary world be without its largest intergovernmental organization? And where might it be had the UN's member states and staff performed better? These fundamental questions are explored in this hard-hitting, authoritative book by the leading analyst of UN history and politics, Thomas G. Weiss. While counterfactuals are often dismissed as academic contrivances, they can serve to focus the mind; and, here, Weiss uses them ably to demonstrate the pluses and minuses of multilateral cooperation. He is not shy about UN achievements and failures drawn from its ideas and operatiosn in its three substantive pillars of activities: international peace and security; human rights and humanitarian action; and sustainable development. But, he argues, the inward-looking and populist movements in electoral politics worldwide make robust multilateralism more, not less, compelling. The selection of António Guterres as the ninth UN secretary-general shoudl rekindle critical thinking about the potential for international cooperation. There is a desperate need to reinvigorate and update rather than jettison the UN in responding to threats from climate change to pandemcis, from proliferation to terrorism. Weiss tells you why and how--back cover.