The United Nations was structured with a Security Council and a General Assembly. Within the Security Council, there were 10 members - 5 permanent and 5 rotating members. The permanent members were the USSR, the USA, Britain, France, and China. Each of these members were given the veto power, in which if they disagreed with a decision, they could veto it and it wouldn't pass. The General Assembly consisted of all the members of the United Nations and has continuously grown since it was founded.
However, the United Nations is still a flawed system that is unable to maintain peace internationally. One of the main flaws is the veto power that permanent members have. As long as one of these members disagrees, nothing can be done. This can be seen in the Cold War Era, when the United Nations was unable to resolve any ongoing issues. The problem occurred because both the United States and the USSR were locked in various proxy wars and would veto any attempts to resolve ongoing issues. Similar incidences have continued to plague the United Nations, as seen during the Iraq War. European nations did not support America's involvement in the Middle East, and France, Russia, and China vetoed America intervention.
Furthermore, the system in which the United Nations works gives equal power to small nations as it did large nations. This means that representation isn't proportional to the population within a given country, and decisions may not be made based off of what is best for the majority of people in the world. Additionally, as long as larger nations are unable to enforce the terms decided by the United Nations, smaller countries are still free to start wars.
While another world war has not happened, peace has not fully been achieved. The United Nations, while able to help the world in various ways through their mission to protect human rights and provide humanitarian assistance, is still unable to reach the goal it was created for. It goes to show that more needs to be done and that the methods that we use currently are unable to preserve peace.
Sources :
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-united-nations-is-born
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299403076_Evolution_Dilemma_of_the_United_Nations
Good job on the post Sophia. I liked how you looked deeper into the United Nations, and pointed out the reasons why it was a flawed system. The veto power is clearly one way the system is flawed because it can result in one of the permanent members to veto a decision in their own interests. Another flaw that I found was that countries would sometimes withhold their share of expenses, leading to financial issues in the UN. Overall, it is clear that the United Nations is a good, but flawed idea, and that it could use reform.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.heritage.org/report/united-nations-peacekeeping-flaws-and-abuses-the-us-must-demand-reform