Late last month, the United Nations General Assembly did something that, in contrast to the weighty issues of war and peace, human rights, and international development that regularly top its agenda, was on its face unremarkable: It adopted a budget. Advocates for U.N. reform, however, have reason to celebrate: The U.N. operating budget delivered on Christmas Eve was $285 million (5 percent) less than the previous budget.

Some headlines implied that this was a unilateral decision by the U.S. In reality, these cuts had the buy-in of all U.N. member states, as well as Secretary-General Antonio Guterres — who initially proposed significant budget cuts — and had been in the works for months.