Many of Kemal Dervis's early speeches as Administrator argued that UNDP's coordinating role and its early recognition of the imperative of UN reform would put it at the centre of an imminent process that was inseparably linked to a larger task of building effective, increasingly democratic global governance. Dervis told a January 2006 meeting of Res Reps,

The next day Dame Margaret Anstee, co-author of the Capacity Study (see chapter 6) and champion of a more rational United Nations for more than fifty years, wrote to say, ‘Anyone who believes that logical, overall reform is feasible is ploughing the sea!’ She later added, ‘But I DO think that reform is essential and urgent but that the only way of making headway is by some individual and important changes that would have a multiplier effect.’

The recurrent impediments to comprehensive UN reform are the deep conflicts that fracture the state system and, therefore, are played out within intergovernmental organizations.