United Nations Influence

United Nations Influence

United Nations Influence and Effectiveness

Introduction to United Nations Influence

The UN’s influence on international politics is significant and cannot be ignored. The main goal of the UN’s founders was to avoid a third world war, and in that respect, the organization 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 in the contemporary world. Although these rules are not always followed, the UN has nevertheless established itself as a significant player on the world stage.

The UN has been involved in every major war and international crisis since World War II in one fashion or another. It authorized the international coalitions that fought the Korean War (1950-1953) and the Persian Gulf War of 1991. A UN resolution created the state of Israel in 1948, and the UN has been both a forum for debate and an active mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict. In the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the United States used the UN as a forum to challenge the Soviet Union in front of the whole world.

Since the end of the Cold War, the UN has asserted the right of the Security Council to be the sole body with the power to declare international uses of military force legitimate. However, this claimed authority does not always work. In some cases, the UN may fail to muster support for a force to intervene in a violent conflict. For example, lacking support for intervention from UN member nations, the UN failed to stop the 1994 genocide in Rwanda that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians. In other cases, great powers such as the United States take action on their own when they cannot get the UN to grant the authority they wish. In 2003 the United States sought but did not receive explicit Security Council approval of military action against Iraq. The United States nevertheless led an invasion of Iraq, inviting the UN to play a role in postwar humanitarian assistance and running elections for a new government (see U.S.-Iraq War).

Certain tensions constrain the UN’s influence and effectiveness. The first is the tension between the UN’s role as an autonomous actor and its role as a collection of nations. 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. On the one hand, the UN has a mandate to work on its own to promote the values of its charter. On the other hand, the UN Charter is a treaty among nations. Thus, the UN cannot do anything without the expressed approval of its members, particularly the great powers. The UN’s authority comes from the countries that join the organization, sign the charter, and provide the UN with the resources it needs to accomplish its mission.

The UN also faces the tension of the gap between the developed and developing world. The developing world represents the majority of the UN’s members, both in terms of number of countries and global population. The developed world, meanwhile, controls the majority of financial and military resources available to the UN. Developing countries want the chance to build their societies, but to do this they need help from the richer, already developed countries, many of which are reluctant to spend their resources on others. The struggle to set priorities and allocate scarce resources is a constant tension within the UN.

There is a constant tension between the International Law of the UN Charter and the diplomacy that the member nations conduct on a daily basis. The UN Charter only has value to the extent that members follow its provisions. Nations can ignore elements of the charter and can also work outside the charter. Peacekeeping, for example, is never mentioned in the Charter but has become a key UN diplomatic function. Trying to maintain the integrity of international law while still playing effective diplomacy that satisfies the needs of the member countries consumes much of the day-to-day business of the UN.

Finally, a longstanding tension exists between the UN and the United States, the world’s most powerful nation. The UN constrains the United States by creating the one coalition that can rival U.S. power-that of all other nations. In addition, the United States has a streak of isolationism in its foreign policy that runs counter to the idea of the UN. But the UN also benefits the United States in many ways. It amplifies U.S. power because the United States usually leads the UN coalition. It helps keep world peace, which the United States is not rich or strong enough to do by itself. And it helps keeps the world stable, providing a good climate for global economic growth.” (1)

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Notes and References

Guide to United Nations Influence


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