The United Nations Test Notes

Has the United Nations been a success or failure?

Use of the United Nations

The only global international organization that serves multiple functions in international relations.

The UN is a reflection of the realities of international politics. Despite its intensively political nature, the UN transformed itself and some aspects of international politics.

Internationalism: The hope that many nations can act together in a community of interest. The expectation that the people of several nations can act co-operatively for an ideal that transcends national loyalties.

The policy and practice of many nations acting together in the common purpose of guaranteeing the peace.

UNESCO was a commitment to the principle that if an international organisation was to be effective it would need to be concerned with more than just problem solving – it would have to build for the future.

If a colony was not ready for self-government, then an advanced power would be given a mandate to administer it until it attained self-government.

A structure of order based on co-operation between governments.

Because the UN is not a parliament of man or federation of the world, it should not be judged as an entity separate from its members. It can only be what its members wish it to be, and it is not fair to criticise it for failing to be something its members do not allow it to be.

Intergovernmental organization or gathering of sovereign states. Membership is open to all peace-loving nations that accept the principles and obligations set out in its Charter.

The United Nations offers the world community a system of global governance. It aims to maintain international peace and security, promote higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development, promote solutions to international economic, social, health and related problems; and international cultural and educational cooperation. Finally it aims for universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.

The UN represents an invaluable global framework for international cooperation in a wide range of fields – economic, social, political, education and health.

The UN is an indispensable organisation which has contributed immensely to the world.

International organisation of countries created to promote world peace and cooperation.

The UN’s authority comes from the countries that join the organisation, sign the charter, and provide the UN with the resources it needs to accomplish its mission.

The UN Charter only has value to the extent that members follow its provisions.

Since its creation in 1945 the UN has done much to promote international cooperation in economic and social goals, and to a lesser extent world peace.

With the end of the Cold War the UN has the opportunity to become an international organisation that can effectively maintain world peace within the limits of a system where individual nations maintain their own authority and independence.

The UN remains the only forum where all the nations of the world can gather to discuss pressing issues of peace and security. The UN’s greatest asset remains its ability to speak as the world’s voice, offering legitimacy and guidance on the paths nations follow to solve their problems.

Successes of the United Nations

There were some early instances of Soviet cooperation with the United States and other powers that allowed for UN successes in restoring or preserving peace.

The UN has demonstrated willingness in the past to intervene in basically internal situations, both to restore order and to prevent the spread of disorder to neighbouring states.

The UN has had success condemning the colonial and racist policies of nations by applying severe economic sanctions.

The UN has been active in setting standards of human dignity and freedom, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the establishment of international labour standards, and it has been a forum for discussion on some environmental issues.

UN peacekeeping forces have become more assertive about using force to protect themselves and civilians and are more active in enforcing the peace.

Decolonization was successfully accomplished, and many newly independent states have joined the international community and have helped to shape a new international agenda.

Replaced the defunct and ineffective League of Nations. The UN would not be dominated by European nations and America would be able to add its authority to the organisation.

The membership of the USA was assured by the establishment of the Security Council that was to be so organised that all of the permanent members would have to be in agreement if action was to be authorised. This ensured that the great powers would either act in unison or not act at all. Therefore the UN could not become a means of setting one great power against another. Had this not been possible there would have been resignations from the organisation.

UNESCO was built to create social and educational practices that would serve to prevent the emergence of the sorts of bias, prejudice and intolerance that had spawned animosities and conflicts in the past. Such prestige as the UN earned came largely from the achievements of the Economic and Social Council.

The UN Trusteeship Council exercised a strict supervision over the trust territories and as a result many administering nations were persuaded to speed up the process of granting self-government to the territories. The Trusteeship Council’s responsibilities were fulfilled, no trust territories remain and the cessation of the function of the Trusteeship Council was one of the UN’s greatest triumphs.

The best argument in favour of the United Nations is that if it were disbanded tomorrow, demands for the creation of a similar organisation would be worldwide within two years. This highlights the value of the UN as a world forum, even though at times it appeared to be achieving little. The effectiveness of the UN increased with the ending of the cold war.

The United Nations has not yet succeeded in ensuring world peace but the United Nations can only be what its member countries choose it to be. We must hope that some day the principal Heads of State in this world will respond to the wishes of the people and decide to dismantle their armaments, to put an end to their struggle for power and influence, and to join forces for the establishment of peace. Until that day, the United Nations as a collective organisation, can only serve as a meeting ground between nations and as an effective emergency peace-keeping instrument.

The General Assembly is where every member nation is represented and has become important as a forum for the expression of world opinion.

Such a large body as the General Assembly could result in indecision rather than action, therefore the control of aggression was transferred to a smaller body – the Security Council – with the stronger nations holding permanent seats.

There are delusions that the UN is a world government, however the UN could not assume the functions of a world government without abandoning its neutrality, and only by remaining neutral can it fulfil a mediating role in conflicts.

The UN has held and increased its membership, which enables it to be regarded as a true “world forum.”

The organisation wields considerable moral influence – the UN is able to exert influence through the numbers of the organisation.

The UN has shortened and localised local conflicts – it offers a theatre in which an aggressive power can accepts a UN resolution to stop fighting. The UN also reduces disagreements and facilitates compromises.

The Security Council can recommend the use of a blockade or other financial impositions for any nation that is deemed as breaking international law. If these do not work, then the Security Council can call on the United Nations to use military force to enforce its will. This is the major difference to the League of Nations – the United Nations has the ability to enforce its decisions as each member state has to pledge to provide a military component dependent on its national wealth and capability.

The main task of the Economic and Social Council is to promote and improve the economic and social well-being of those living in the member states. This council covers health, education, economic, social and cultural issues and the promotion of the position of women in the world.

Within the General Assembly all nations regardless of wealth, military power, etc get one vote. The same is true in the specialist agencies – one nation one vote.

Promoting international relations and diplomacy.

Regulating the international travel through the certification of airports by the International Civil Aviation Organization and the establishment of safety standards.

Ensuring that products for export meet international standards.

Ensuring that international agreements are implemented by the member states

Promoted cooperation among various countries.

Tackled common problems together, which in the end foster cooperation, such as disease.

Helped African countries prepare regional forecasts and analysis of social-economic indicators among African countries.

Raised public awareness through organizing international conferences, and then liaising with international development agencies and building the consensus of agreements.

Supporting the decolonization of more than 80 nations which were formerly under colonial rule. These nations gained independence and joined the UN as sovereign states.

Promoting technical assistance in various fields to its member states in the third world. There have been many developmental and humanitarian activities, which the UN is funding all over the developing countries.

Provides shelter and relief to millions of refugees from war and persecution, and supports the repatriation and resettlement of refugees and displaced persons.

Promoting regional/sub-regional empowerment.

Promoting public awareness at various levels on specific problems/issues that cut across nations.

Fostering strong international cooperation.

Dismantling apartheid in South Africa, by portraying the true evil of racism.

Making nations behave responsibly.

Without the UN international relations would be very difficult. We would find it problematic to even travel within some of our own countries let alone around the world. The international diplomacy of the UN has helped to make the world a civilized and better place to live.

The number of state-to-state conflicts in the last half of the 20th century was half that of the first half without the United Nations.

The process of world peace requires cooperative effort. The United Nations is a voluntary association of member states – not a world government, which could readily force cooperation. Today there are 18 peacekeeping missions in the world with requests for new missions. If UN peacekeeping has failed, why does this demand exist?

The UN’s World Health Organisation is critical to the entire world’s “health security.”

The work of the UN trade organisations stabilises the world economy to the benefit of everyone.

The UNESCO fosters cooperative scientific and cultural programs.

Peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.

The issue is balancing effectiveness, legitimacy and rights. That is the essence of the UN bargain: veto power on the Security Council; one country, one vote in the General assembly.

The UN can and has been relevant in addressing first order security concerns.

UN peacekeeping forces serve mainly to verify that each side is living up to its obligations.

The UN carries a stamp of legitimacy and consensus. Decisions by the UN, including legally binding decisions by the Security Council may be more acceptable to other governments than pressure from any single nation or group.

The UN is primarily a forum for debate; as a result it is an international organisation where countries send representatives to argue for or against issues.

The UN recognised that is would not be successful unless it had the ongoing support of the world’s most powerful nations. To encourage their support and reassure them that it would not threaten their sovereignty, the UN gave them veto authority over its most important actions.

The Security Council’s first step is to encourage the countries to settle their disagreements without violence. The Council can mediate a dispute or recommend guidelines for a settlement. It can send peacekeeping troops into a distressed area. If war breaks out, the Council can call for a ceasefire and can enforce its decisions by imposing economic sanctions on a country, or by authorising joint military action.

The UN provides a forum for countries to promote their views and settle conflicts without violence.

It allows countries to cooperate to solve world problems, such as poverty, disease and threats to the environment.

It serves as a symbol of international order and global identity.

Works to address economic and social problems in developing countries, with the idea that such problems create sources of conflict that can lead to war.

The UN helps coordinate the work of hundred of agencies and programs, both within its own organisation and outside it. It collects and published global statistics.

To maintain international peace and security the UN can use three primary ways, all directly involving the Security Council. The UN can assist in the peaceful resolution of international disputes – this authority has evolving into the use of UN authorised peacekeeping forces. The UN can authorise military action to enforce its resolutions. Finally the UN can serve as a forum for international deliberations on long-term solutions to pressing security issues.

The main goal of the UN’s founders was to avoid a third world war, and in that respect the organisation has succeeded. The UN has peacefully resolved numerous international disputes since its founding and has established a set of rules for the use of force. Although these rules are not always followed, the UN has nevertheless established itself as a significant force.

UN keeps the world stable by providing a good climate for global economic growth.

Failures of the United Nations

The charter anticipated that regional security agreements would supplement the UN system, but in fact comprehensive alliances to an extent bypassed it.

Although the assembly has convened a few times under the “Uniting for Peace” resolution, its authority to require action by members has remained vague, and it has never developed workable enforceable machinery.

Unless the parties overseen by the UN forces are desirous of peace, the council can only successfully assert itself when they are convinced their own interests are at stake.

The UN’s ability to fund peacekeeping operations has been hampered by the non-payment of UN dues.

The UN has been accused of corruption.

The General Assembly may conduct studies and make recommendations but may not advise on matters under Security Council consideration, unless by Security Council request.

The Security Council’s primary responsibility was to preserve peace, and it was given the power to enforce measures. Under the charter the council may take measures on any danger to world peace. By the terms of the charter, the UN was forbidden to intervene in matters “which was essentially domestic,” but this limitation was not intended to hinder Security Council measures to prevent threats to peace. Domestic issues can be construed as threats to peace and there is an opening for intervention in domestic issues that threaten to have dangerous international repercussions.

The UN organizational structure still reflects the power relationships of the immediate post-war world, despite the fact that the world has changed dramatically – particularly with respect to the cold war, and the dramatic increase in the number of independent states.

The norm of national sovereignty runs into conflict with the constant demand by many in the international community that the UN take a more active role in combating aggression and alleviating international problems.

It was paralysed by inter-bloc suspicions and rivalries with the superpowers using their power of veto on numerous occasions to forestall UN action in various crises. The USA commanded the loyalty of one bloc of nations, the USSR the other, while a “Third World” or “non-aligned” bloc tried to stand aside and was able to exert considerably influence. This resulted frequently in a lack of action.

The UN has been described as a debating society producing a sea of words but little of value.

The UN has been unable to enforce decisions when great powers are uncooperative. The UN’s role in facilitating “effective collective measures for the prevention and removal or threats to the peace” is obviously limited to situations involving a small power lacking great-power sponsorship.

The UN has not succeeded in the establishment of “a system for the regulation of armaments.”

Equality in voting power on the principle of “one nation one vote” is also seen as a weakness. There are 105 nations that carry only 10% of the world’s populations and contribute only 5% of the UN budget, yet they can muster up the two-thirds majority to pass important resolutions in the General Assembly.

The inability of the UN to take military initiative is a shortcoming as the ability of a UNEF (United Nations Emergency Force) to separate combatants can only be formed if the quarrelling nations are ready to accept its presence, and if there is a sufficient number of neutral nations willing to supply troops for the purpose The UN does not have a permanent “peace-keeping” force to rush into the troubled area.

In the circumstances of the cold war, the UN was all too often an area in which conflict was polarised and extended, and differences made deeper and more difficult to resolve.

At the general level any nation in the United Nations would have one vote on issues. However the USSR would have numerous votes as it represented several republics, and self-governing dominions of the British Empire would also have one vote each.

By the 1970s the UN had lost some of its prestige, as it became clear that the superpowers would follow the foreign policy that they wanted to, regardless of what the UN wanted.

Some international problems were dealt with by America flexing its diplomatic muscles, rather than the UN solving them.

The five permanent members of the Security Council have fought to keep the system as it is claiming that as they invest far more money into the UN’s budget, they should have more sway than nations that pay far less into the UN’s budget. If the Big Five withdrew their financial support of reduced it to the level of other nations in the UN, then the UN itself would face near bankruptcy. There was little the UN could do if members failed to pay their contribution.

Under the Charter all members of the UN agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. Thus, while other organs of the UN make recommendations to member governments, the Security Council alone has the power to make decisions which member states are obliged to carry out.

The size and bureaucracy of the UN system means that UN mandates are extensive, complex and global – the system needs to be more efficient, effective and responsive.

Inadequate human and financial resources to carry out planned activities, such as peacekeeping.

There are many flaws in the outlays and duplication of functions, authorities and activities.

Not transparent, bit is controlled by a few members. (Security Council)

Lack of system-wide policy and programme coordination as each agency/organisation is different.

During the fifty years of its existence, the UN has not been able either ‘to maintain international peace and security’, or ‘to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character’.

The catastrophic humanitarian situations, the failure of peace-keeping operations and the spread of unemployment at world level.

The United Nations will never be completely effective unless all of the countries in the world give up their sovereignty. The problem with the UN lies in its inability to enforce international law. Compliance with international law is pretty much optional for the superpowers. Since the UN relies on dues to carry out its duties, it will not force any of its chief contributors to comply with all the laws it has set forth to maintain law and order in international politics. Without the ability to enforce international law on all its members, the only effectiveness of the UN has been that it allows the more powerful, richer countries to bully the smaller, poorer ones. The UN will always be Western Civilizations mechanism to maintain their first world status.

Failed to carry through its mandate as the world’s leading collective security body. It is a tool of the Western powers that neglects the security concerns of the poor and dispossessed. Its structure reflects the power structure of the post-war world.

The Security Council inhibits other more productive forms of international cooperation. The Security Council frequently fails to enforce its resolutions.

It is fine to have an international mechanism, but it is dangerous to entrust big issues of world peace – terrorism, nuclear proliferation, etc to a body that is more often paralytic or capricious than effective.

Nations complain about the unfairness of the Security Council.

UN peacekeepers help with only a small selection of international problems and they embark on missions only where the parties have made a clear commitment not to fight. During the Cold War the UN peacekeeping operations were few and relegated to narrow and largely symbolic missions of monitoring, investigation and reporting.

The Security Council’s essential purpose was to uphold peace, and at that end it has been an abject failure. The member states were each to have placed units at the disposal of the council l and under the command of the military staff committee. Only twice in the history of the UN has the Security Council acted against an aggressor to restore peace.

The Security Council’s failure was attributable to the Cold War, which kept the institution in a state of paralysis. However the Cold War’s end has brought only modest improvement in the body’s performance.

States act on interest rather than morality- they follow foreign policies of pure egoism, untainted by any trace of morality. This is a hopelessly flawed arrangement as these states also have vetoes.

The UN is unable to take direct and independent actions without support from its members. In other words the UN is completely powerless and pacifistic. The UN’s only purpose is to act as a place for ambassadors to debate and try to resolve their country’s issues through diplomacy. The UN is almost completely ineffective and useless at preventing and stopping atrocities without a slow and deliberating consensus of several members in the UN who almost never agree on anything.

It must continually secure the cooperation of its member nations because the organisation has little independent power or authority, and many nations are reluctant to defer their own authority and follow the dictates of the UN.

The Secretariat has been criticised for being inefficient and even corrupt. The secretary general must rely on member countries, especially the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to get anything done. As a result the secretary general often struggles with the Council over which direction the UN should take. Since the Security Council chooses the secretary general, there is a limit on how independent the position can be.

The plan for worldwide disarmament and arms control haven’t had very much direct effect on actual arsenals.

Tension between the UN’s role as an autonomous actor and its role as a collection of nations has affected its influence and effectiveness. The UN can call on member nations for action, but it has a hard time enforcing its own resolutions because it is also committed to the principle of sovereignty, which asserts each country’s right to set its own policies.

The UN requires member nations to contribute to its peacekeeping operations and relief missions, but when no nation wants to contribute it is an impotent body.

The UN cannot do anything without the expressed approval of its members, particularly the great powers.

There are tensions concerning the gap between the developed and developing world. There is a struggle to set priorities and allocate scarce resources.

Tension between the International Law of the UN Charter and the diplomacy that the member nations conduct on a daily basis.

Nations can ignore elements of the Charter and also work outside the charter. Trying to maintain the integrity of international law while still playing effective diplomacy that satisfies the needs the member countries consumes much of the business of the UN.