USA och FN- samarbete eller konflikt

Abstract University of Växjö, School of Social Sciences Course: PO 5363, Political Science 41-60 Title: US and UN, cooperation or conflict? Author: Charlotta Bjuvling Supervisor: Lennart Bergfeldt Date: Autumn 2007 The international society changed a great deal after the end of the cold war. It gave the United Nations a new oppertunity to act after the deadlock during the war, and it gave the United States a new hegemone role in the world politics. The aim of this paper is to investigate wheter the United States foreign policy action have been accordence to a realistic way of thinking since the end of the cold war. I will do this with the help of my research questions: • Have the United States followed the guidelines of the United Nations in their foreign policy? • Are there signs that show of a change, either towards more or less cooperation between United Nations and the United States? To answer these questions I will use the theories realism and Hedley Bulls concepts of fairness and his ideas of an international system in his book “An Anarchical Society”. This will be done through a qualitative literature study. The study concludes that the Unites States indeed follow a realistisc way of thinking in their foreign policy. Their cooperation with the United Nations is limited to times with special circumstances, such as the end of the cold war and the terror attack after the 11 September. However, United Nations still fills an important role in the international system. Keywords: American foreign policy, United Nations, hegemon, realism, chang