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In this book, a leading authority in the field of social theory and communication shows how scientific practice is a rhetorical and narrative activity, a story well told. Richard Harvey Brown develops the idea of science as narration, casts various scientific disciplines as literary genres, and argues that expert knowledge of any kind is a form of power. He then explains how a narrative view of science can help integrate science within a democratic civic discourse.

In recent years, Dutch universities have increasingly adopted the concept of “social safety” as a distinct policy domain, alongside Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Triggered in part by high-profile reports on harassment and misconduct in academia, social safety has emerged as a widely endorsed yet ambiguously defined framework. This study investigates the meanings associated with social safety policy work across eleven Dutch higher education institutions. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with fifteen university employees engaged in social safety tasks, we explore how the concept is understood and operationalised. Our findings reveal a strong conceptual overlap with “inclusion” and ”psychological safety”. However, we also identify critical tensions: the meanings attributed to social safety tends to emphasise individual responsibility detached from power relations anchored in social identities and marginalisation. We argue that social safety, as an evolving and contested policy term, functions as a “floating signifier” shaped by institutional needs and actors, and we call for more intersectional and systemic approaches to ensure its effectiveness. In den letzten Jahren haben niederländische Universitäten zunehmend das Konzept der „sozialen Sicherheit“ („social safety“) als eigenständiges Politikfeld neben Diversity, Equity und Inclusion eingeführt. Ausgelöst unter anderem durch vielbeachtete Berichte über Belästigung und Fehlverhalten in der Wissenschaft hat sich „soziale Sicherheit“ als ein weithin befürwortetes, jedoch unklar definiertes Konzept etabliert. Dieser Artikel untersucht die Bedeutungen, die dem Konzept in der praktischen Arbeit zu „social safety“ Policies an elf niederländischen Universitäten zugeschrieben werden. Auf der Grundlage halbstrukturierter Interviews mit fünfzehn Universitätsmitarbeitenden mit Zuständigkeiten im Bereich der sozialen Sicherheit untersuchen wir, wie das Konzept verstanden und operationalisiert wird. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen eine starke konzeptuelle Überschneidung mit „Inklusion” und „psychologischer Sicherheit”. Zugleich treten auch Spannungen auf: Soziale Sicherheit wird eher als eine Angelegenheit von individueller Verantwortung und losgelöst von Machtverhältnissen gesehen, die in sozialen Identitäten und Marginalisierung verankert sind. Wir argumentieren, dass soziale Sicherheit als ein sich entwickelnder und umstrittener Politikbegriff, als „floating signifier” fungiert, dessen genaue Bedeutung von institutionellen Bedürfnissen und Akteuren geprägt wird, und fordern intersektionalere und systemischere Ansätze zur Sicherung seiner Wirksamkeit.

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) entered into force on April 29th, 1997. It contains the central norms of the chemical weapons (CW) prohibition regime. While the disarmament goal enshrined in the CWC will soon be achieved, the non-use norm has been repeatedly challenged by CW attacks in Syria and elsewhere. The article traces the evolution of the disarmament norm and discusses steps that are necessary to strengthen implementation of key regime norms. These include adaptations of the regime to the completion of CW destruction and the changing context in which the regime must function. In addition, the identification norm must be maintained for the investigation of future cases of CW use.

On August 26, 2022, Russia prevented agreement on a final document at the 10th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The failure to reach agreement on measures to strengthen the treaty comes at a time of growing nuclear risks and tensions among nuclear-weapon states. It is the first time that two successive NPT review conferences failed to conclude with an agreed outcome and represents a serious setback to the international community's efforts to make progress on nuclear disarmament and prevent nuclear proliferation.

Based on the criticism of the UN's irrelevance in the face of the Russian war of aggression, this article discusses the current and possible future political role of the United Nations in the Russian war against Ukraine from the perspective of political science. In doing so, the main features of the UN's political action are traced along the organization-theoretical attributions of roles and functions and illustrated with examples from the UN's engagement with respect to the war. Through this analysis, it becomes clear that the United Nations is an irreplaceable forum of intergovernmental exchange and an important actor in crisis communication, mediation, and humanitarian assistance.

Since the end of the Cold War elections have become an almost universal part of political systems. However, the process and conduct of elections in practice often suffers from numerous difficulties. The United Nations has therefore developed a variety of tools to assist and support member states in electoral processes. Several examples illustrate the work of the UN in this capacity and the complexity of UN electoral assistance.

The United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), established in 2006 after the UN World Summit, remains the only truly UN-wide funding mechanism for peacebuilding initiatives and depends upon voluntary contributions from member states. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a »quantum leap« in contributions amounting to 500 million U.S. dollars annually to secure funding. Payments have never come close to meeting this target, and demand is gradually beginning to outpace available resources. A High-level Meeting for Financing for Peacebuilding of the General Assembly in spring 2022 will discuss available funding options.

This article focuses on selected problems to be taken into account after 50 years of successful implementation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention. The main task of UNESCO, namely creating peace through world-wide moral solidarity, has not been taken into due account as a major basis of related activities. The unequal regional distribution of world heritage sites, their inflationary rate of expansion, the increasing politicization of the work of the World Heritage Committee, as well as the low degree of transparency in and for the engagement of the Civil Society are critically reviewed.

Imagine a United Nations armed with nuclear weapons. Harold Stassen, a prominent political figure and U.S. disarmament advisor, proposed that idea. In late 1945, he wanted the UN to wield the only nuclear arsenal in the world. The plan fit Stassen’s political ambitions and middle of the road approach to policy solutions. It also fit Stassen’s visions for sovereignty and security under the UN system. For similar reasons, Stassen concocted a more modest scheme in 1956. While Stassen’s plans failed, they nevertheless speak to issues that confront the global nuclear order today – such as the UN’s 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

Member states of the United Nations speak in the UN Security Council, they make conscious decisions about which terms to use and which concepts to avoid. Using the ›entity recognition‹ as one of the emerging methods in computational linguistics, we show how permanent members or Germany differ in their use of words and their reference to selected entities in Security Council debates from 2014 to 2020, including in debates under the agenda item ›Women, Peace and Security‹ (WPS).