United Nations

United Nations The UN replaced the failed League of Nations after the Second World War. Wartime negotiations between Russia, America, China, and Britain produced a blueprint for a new global security institution. The United Nations came into being on 24 October 1945 with 51 member states. By 2000, there were 188.

The institutions of the UN bore some similarity to those of the league, though the General Assembly was empowered to act on majority votes, rather than the principle of unanimity. But the five main powers, UK, USA, USSR, France, and China, gave themselves a power of veto in the Security Council, which Britain retains.

The effectiveness of the UN in maintaining global security has rested to a large extent on the superpowers being in agreement. UN peacekeeping activities proliferated at times of relaxation during the Cold War, and after 1989, but were rarer when the two main powers were trading vetoes with each other in the 1950s or the 1980s. The UN was able to intervene in the Korean War because the USSR at the time was boycotting the Security Council. British soldiers have played a part in UN peacekeeping activities, notably in Cyprus and in Bosnia. But UN authority was weakened by strong disagreements in 2003 over policy towards Iraq.