Issued annually since 1946/47, the Yearbook is the principal reference work of the United Nations, providing a comprehensive, one-volume account of the Organization's work. It includes details of United Nations activities concerning trade, industrial development, natural resources, food, science & technology, social development, population, environment, human settlements, children & legal questions, along with information on the work of each specialized agency in the United Nations family. The Yearbook is an indispensable guide to the UN.

Politics in the United Nations reflects the predominant discord and occasional convergence among the members of the UN system as they view the international problems of our times through lenses of their geographic, historical, ideological, religious, and ethnic diversity. The contributors to this book describe how, since the United Nations was founded more than forty years ago, the UN system has changed to accommodate the varied interests of its members.