The United Nations

In 1945, in the wake of the destruction of World War II, the leaders of China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (the U.N. Security Council) met with their counterparts from 22 nations to create the United Nations.

Read this article, which describes the many goals and activities of the United Nations, which include offering international conferences and international observances; promoting arms control and disarmament; human rights, humanitarian assistance, international development, and peacekeeping; helping broker treaties; and helping to enforce international law.

Introduction

The United Nations (or simply UN) is an international organization established in 1945 for the purpose of securing world peace. It replaced its predecessor, the League of Nations, which had failed to prevent war between nations. It was founded by 51 nations led by the allied powers after World War II. Now with 193 members, the organization's structure still reflects the geopolitical circumstances at its founding.

On the United Nations Security Council, the body with the ability to enforce its decisions, there are five permanent members (P5) with veto power – the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and the People's Republic of China (PRC). Neither Russia nor the PRC were originally permanent Security Council members. They took over the seats of the Soviet Union (defunct since 1992) and the Republic of China (UN membership withdrawn in 1971).

As an organization of governments designed to prevent war between states, it has struggled to address issues of civil and ethnic strife within countries. Since the end of the Cold War, trends in conflict have shifted from international to intra-national conflicts; nations are no longer the defining framework for conflict. The United Nations Security Council, the UN's enforcement tool, has had to cope with intra-state and non-state threats by expanding the jurisdiction of its authority, although some question the suitability of the UN intervening in internal conflict situations. [1]

At the UN today, issues are still dealt with in the context of relations between nations, though they are often problems within states. Many of the governments that make up the United Nations are dictatorial or authoritarian regimes that have been imposed by force and do not reflect the interests of the majority of their people. As a result, a sizable number of the world's people feel they have no representation in the United Nations. Proposals have been made to reform the UN to give non-governmental organizations (NGOs), religious leaders, and other members of civil society who represent or deal better with disenfranchised people a greater role in the United Nations.

Source: New World Encyclopedia, http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/United_Nations
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