"This book illustrates some of the parameters surrounding consensus-building at the United Nations, seeking to provide new insights beyond what is already known. The author, Gert Rosenthal, spent twelve years at the UN, offering him privileged observatories in all three of the main inter-governmental organs: the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and the Security Council. In this book Rosenthal focuses on six case studies that offer the breadth and scope of what the UN does, and illustrate some of the main elements of the dynamics of consensus-building, providing concrete examples of the ingredients that shape decision-making in a multilateral setting" --