The United Nations: Futile at Best
Through the last 60 years, the United Nations, as the premier international organization, has aimed to promote peace and facilitate a dialog between member nations in an attempt to prevent a third World War, and ultimately, achieve world peace. However, since its founding, the United Nations has proven to be, at best, a symbolic, superfluous collective that holds no applicable power (neither militaristically nor politically) and is rife with corruption. It would be in the best interest of not only the UN’s predominant donor, the United States, but also in the best interest of the UN itself to immediately disassemble for the following reasons: 1. The United Nation’s eminent lack of any applicable power both politically and militaristically 2. The abundant corruption present in the UN, including harm incited by the “peacekeeping force” (specifically in Rwanda), and the UN’s consequent refusal to address both specific and broader incidents of exploitations and malfeasances. 3. The proliferation of technology that has ensured globalization, rendering the United Nations unnecessary. The United Nations main goal, to prevent wars from occurring, has clearly not been effective in the past half-century. However, that is not to say that certain aspects of the United Nations aren’t useful. The UN Security Council, with the five permanent members (Russia, U.K., France, China, and the United States), has almost certainly played a role in the prevention of WWIII. However, those countries not in the “elite” membership of the UN have consistently been engaged in warfare despite the UN’s mission to attain World Peace. Ultimately, while certain aspects of the United Nations are helpful to the continuation of World Peace, the United Nations as an international coalition no longer serves a purpose and should be immediately eliminated.
As a wholly symbolic coalition, the UN holds no political power over any of its member countries. Sanctions imposed often hold no immediate or realistic consequences. In fact, there are no repercussions at all should a nation fail to report its standings regarding racial, gender, or other forms of equality to the United Nations, such as those required by the member nations that signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This lack of accountability have proved detrimental for the United Nations as many of these smaller, developing countries have no incentives to remain active in the organization as, excluding the five permanent members of the UN security council, many hold no sway or power. The member states are not answering to a larger body. This lack of applicable political power renders the United Nations, at least in its legislative matters, completely useless. Additionally, the UN’s military body, referred to as a “peacekeeping force”, often impose more harm than good. According to Nicole Leibow, a member of The Heritige Foundation, “Some of the U.N.’s darkest hours were the result of peacekeeping missions sent in the absence of a ceasefire or peace agreement.” In Mali, a highly unstable nation in which political uprisings are currently taking place, peacekeepers were sent to, as stated by the UN, “protect key population centres and support for the reestablishment of State authority throughout the country.” However, there is an inherent flaw in the assignment of these peacekeepers: How can peace be kept if, in fact, there is no peace to keep? To ensure that these armed forces are used properly--as a manner in which to maintain the stability of a region-- that same stability must already be established. Ultimately, it is important to note that the social ramifications of the inadequate political and militaristic policies have far reaching negative consequences, and thus the UN must abandon these tactics immediately.
Some of the strongest criticism against the UN came in response to an monstrosity that occurred
United Nations/ International Courts October 16, 2013 Law 12 (2-4) Since its inception, the United Nations, an organization that was created to promote peace, security, and universal cooperation, has played a large role in international affairs that have resulted in both success and failure. One of the United Nation’s affairs involved the country of Congo dubbed the “Congo Crisis.” During 1960-1966, the Congo Crisis was a potential civil war that had erupted when Congo began to strive…
| The United Nations | | | 2/14/2013 | A paper tiger? | | | The United Nations A paper tiger? The United Nations (U.N.) represents almost every nation in the world, with close to 200 member nations. Formed by world leaders a few months after the end of World War II, in 1945, the United Nations set world peace as its primary objective. While international tensions continued to run high throughout the Cold War, the U.N. helped world leaders negotiate differences and avoid another…
Paul Hartfield Dr. Harmon Modern Middle East December 14, 2011 Modern Middle East Final: Short Answers United Nations Resolution 242 The United Nations Resolution 242 was a Security Council resolution created on November 22, 1967. It was derived from the 1967 Arab-Israeli War also known as the Six-Day War. This resolution called for five major actions: 1 Israel’s withdrawal from territories occupied during the recent conflict 2 An end to belligerency and respect for the acknowledgment of…
Case study - waste and traffic management scheme CURITIBA Brazil Curitiba is a city in Brazil with a population of 2 million. It provides a world model for how to integrate a sustainable transport and waste management scheme and has been awarded the UN’s highest award for its recycling scheme. In 1965 Curitiba produced a master plan to; 1 Encourage growth along transport routes 2 Establish industrial zones 3 Encourage the community to be self-sufficient by providing them education, health…
The United Nations The United Nations was originally formed to replace the League of Nations that had come before it and had failed to prevent WWII. It was formed based on the global recognition that the world could not afford a 3rd World War. It’s mission was to solve international problems of either social, economic, or humanitarian nature. The first conference of the UN was held on April 25, 1945 in San Francisco and was attended by 5o governments and non-government organizations involved…
The United Nations has a long and storied tradition with the United States. The forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations, an organization conceived in similar circumstances during the First World War, and established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles to promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security. The International Labor Organization was also created under the Treaty of Versailles as an affiliated agency of the League. The League of Nations ceased its…
cirumstances are influencded by the major actors in the world. Untill 1990s, commentators on world affairs called their discipline 'International relations'. Since the advent of globalisation the term 'international relations - relations between nations - is no longer broad enough to describe the world. The term 'new world orde'r originated in the early 1900s in the wake of the optimism at the end of the cold war. The need for world order Interdependence and global threats Globalisation. As…
sustainable development of their societies. This is explicitly recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The UDHR was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, of which Canada is a member, in 1948. Canada ratified the CEDAW Convention in 1981. The adoption of CEDAW set new benchmarks for governmental accountability and international action. This firm legal foundation, complemented…
United Nations Partition of Palestine In the partition arrangement recommended in the majority report and adopted by the General Assembly in November 1947, the Jewish state (15 000 square kms) would contain 538 000 Jews and 397 000 Arabs, and the Arab state (11 000 square kms) would contain 800 000 Arabs and 10 000 Jews. The international trusteeship of Jerusalem would contain 105 000 Arabs and 100 000 Jews. The Jews who made up 1/3 of the total population of 1 269 000 and owned 6-8% of the total…
According to "Immigration And The Economy" (2014), President Barack Obama stated "We are a nation of immigrants, and that means that we are constantly being replenished with strivers that believe in the American Dream. And it gives us a tremendous advantage over other nations. It makes us entrepreneurial. It continues the promise that here in America, you can make it if you try, regardless of where you come from, regardless of the circumstances of your birth." (para. 1)President Obama is currently…