ABSTRACT
Common criticisms of the United Nations (UN) are often naive: people assume that it is too idealistic without examining its structural problems, or revile its bureaucratic waste without appreciating the difficulties that dedicated the UN's professional civil servants face, and how much expertise is gathered within the UN agencies. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) provides an inspection system that can be engaged by the UN; but this makes little difference if nations can prevent the IAEA from doing its job at key uranium enrichment facilities within their territory. Among global treaty organizations, the UN was created primarily to provide global security goods by stopping international wars and also nonstate threats. Like international money laundering and human trafficking, the fabrication and spread of weapons of mass and moderate destructiveness is now a global public harm that lies beyond the power of national governments and their intergovernmental organizations to contain.
