International Relations: the United Nations

If one takes a close look at the contemporary world, one will be able to notice that it is dramatically different from the rest of the human history in many ways. One of the aspects that is striking is the efforts that many countries of the world as makes in order to harmonize their interactions. While many might not take this into the account, the development of the United Nation organization (UN) should be seen as a milestone in the development of the humanity as a whole. Indeed, now is the first time in history when the countries are consciously cooperating for the benefit of the people by trying to agree to follow some rules that will be mandatory for everyone. The UN is a remarkable organization that marked the new chapter in the development of the human civilization, but it does have certain drawbacks as well.

Purpose

To begin with, it may be useful to examine the purpose of this organization in general. The first goal that it tries to achieve is to ensure proper peacekeeping operations as well as international security: “the UN was established to achieve the goal that the humanity was striving to achieve since its dawn – global security” (Meisler 49). The UN features an armed force that can be sent to any country and ensure that the fighting parties stop the conflict at least temporarily. The important point to mention here is that when a soldier become a part of the UN peacekeeping force, one is no longer perceived as a representative of a particular country. This contributed to the unbiased use of force during complicated conflicts.

The second purpose of the UN is to secure, maintain, and promote human rights. In spite of the fact that the idea of universal human rights might be relatively new, it is important to note that it has become a fundamental element of the new strategy of the development that is advocated by the UN: “the organization recognizes the human rights as the fundament upon which the prosperity of the humans is built” (Meisler 50). That is why this organization is responsible for the popularization of this concept in the world.

The UN is also known for the provision of much needed humanitarian assistance, especially when it is critical for the prevention of a humanitarian catastrophe. Since this is capable of saving a considerable number of live, one might assume that this organization should be praised for limiting the negative impact of many tragedies: “the UN helps numerous people all over the world overcome hardships of life” (Meisler 51).

There are many other purposes that the UN serves that are not directly related to the fundamental ones that were mentioned above. For example, this organization protects the global environment and facilitates the dialog between the countries regarding this issue. In addition to that, it is also responsible for the preservation of the world heritage, namely unique cultural artifacts that are closely related to the human history. All this leads to the understanding that their purposes of the UN vary greatly.

Structure

In order to achieve the previously mentioned purposes, the UN is structured accordingly. To begin with, one should examine the role of the Security Council. This is a unique body within the UN with five permanent members with veto right and ten non-permanent members: “the practice of veto was designed to grant the most influential nations a right to help the rest produce policies that would be beneficial for all” (Seaman, 2016). While this body plays a number of roles, the most important among them is to deploy peacekeeping forces.

General Assembly is the next significant element in the structure of the UN. It is the body that facilitates dialog between the representatives of the countries and enables them to vote on various ideas. This is where the majority of discussion and decision-making takes place (Blanton and Kegley 88). When people think about the UN in general, they mostly think about the General Assembly which serves as the platform for discussion of various matters performed by the representatives of the countries.

There is a number of parts of the UN that were designed to deal with a specific kind of issues or achieve administrative goals. Thus, while the Security Council decided, the General Assembly recommends, the Secretary-General implements the decisions of the General Assembly. In addition to that, there are also International Court of Justice, International Criminal Court, and Economic and Social Council that serves as the highest instances for trials regarding specific issues.

Finally, there are various UN organs and specialized agencies that have a limited power and are more focused on a certain issue. For example, UNESCO is responsible for the promotion of education, science, and culture in the world. UNICEF is charged with the task of helping children all over the planet. While these agencies and organs have a limited decision-making power, they can be rather influential because they are a part of this organization.

Predecessors

It is essential to keep in mind that the United Nations is not the first attempt of the humanity to create an organization that would help the countries deal with various issues collectively. The League of Nations of a similar body that existed prior to the UN and was largely seen as the example that was used to design the latter. It was established in 1920 as a conscious response to World War I: “the League was expected to help the nations learn the hard lesson of the previous war” (Elgebeily, 2017). However, since it failed to achieve its primary goal which is to prevent another global war from happening, it would be fair to suggest that it was not successful.

One of the reasons why this organization failed was its indecisiveness. It happened so that the League tried to resolve various armed conflicts with as little force as possible and was a strong proponent of pacifism. However, this was largely regarded as a sign of indecisiveness in the world where war was just another way of achieving diplomatic goals.

In addition to that, one might also recall that the most important actors of the international politics never joined or did not stay long in the League. Thus, the United States was responsible for drafting principles of the League, but it did not join it ever. The Soviet Union was not welcome in the League because it was a Communist state.

Finally, the League of Nation failed because it promoted the idea of collective security which was not understood by the countries. At that time few were willing to rely on others when it came to protection, especially after a global war. This lead to the situation when the countries still were relying on their own forces instead of giving the League an opportunity to protect them if needed. That is why this organization failed.

Relevance today

Many people tend to ask themselves a question whether the UN is an organization that is still relevant today. The answer to it may not be straight as there are both advantages and disadvantages that are associated with this organization. On the one hand, the UN is responsible for limiting chaos in the field of international relations and providing a solid structure to international politics (MacQueen, 2011). After all, representatives of the countries choose to debate on the floor of the General Assembly rather than in the battlefield. In addition to that, the UN is also responsible for uniting countries in the struggle against common issues like terrorism or global warming. If it had not been for this organization, the humanity would have never been able to make any progress in dealing with such massive problems. That is why there is no doubt that these contributions of the UN are remarkable.

On the other hand, there is a number of drawbacks that make this organization not quite relevant today. For example, the fundamental principle of the General Assembly is an allocation of one vote to one country. However, it often happens so that a single country would vote in a certain way and the rest of the countries will follow. In practice, this provides a single country with a higher degree of influence. Furthermore, it often happens that the UN applies double standards while investigating the actions of certain countries. The most known example is the invasion of Iraq in 2003 when the global community was misled by the information regarding weapons of mass destruction in this country. In spite of the fact that the information that was presented in the General Assembly did not reflect the reality, the representatives of the United States were not reprimanded.  Contrary to that, the information that is provided by other countries, like the Russian Federation, is constantly being contested.

Conclusion

Having examined all the points that were mentioned in the paragraphs above, one might come to the understanding that the UN plays an important role in the system of international relationships. Its primary purposes include peacekeeping and security, promotion of human rights, provision of humanitarian assistance and many others. The structure of the UN was designed in such a way that it would ensure that the goals which were mentioned above would be achieved. The League of Nations is the attempt to create an international organization that failed due to the fact that it was too indecisive, it lacked the support of major actors as well as global representation. The UN is an organization that features both positive and negative aspects that make it relevant in the contemporary circumstances of the political life.

Works cited

Blanton, Shannon L., Kegley, Charles W. World Politics: Trend & Transformation. 2017. Cengage Learning. 2016-2017 edition.

Elgebeily, Sherif. The Rule of Law in the United Nations Security Council Decision-Making Process: Turning the Focus Inwards. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.

MacQueen, Norrie. Humanitarian Intervention and the United Nations. Edinburgh University Press, 2011.

Meisler, Stanley. United Nations: a History. Grove Press, 2011.

Seaman, Kate. UN-Tied Nations The United Nations, Peacekeeping and Global Governance. Taylor and Francis, 2016.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]
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