United Nations

Type of Government

The United Nations (UN) is the world’s primary agency for the promotion of peace, global development, and international cooperation. A voluntary association of 191 nations, the UN is not itself a government; it does not make laws but coordinates the joint efforts of its members, providing assistance as needed in the development or implementation of policy.

Background

The increasing ease of travel and communication in the nineteenth century encouraged the development of organizations to promote international cooperation. Most of these were formed for specific, ad hoc purposes; the goal of the Universal Postal Union (established in 1874 and now part of the UN), for example, was the facilitation of international mail delivery. Wars around the world further necessitated cooperation among nations, as the enormous casualties of the American Civil War (1861–1865), the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), and other conflicts soon prompted the growth of international movements with more ambitious goals: the establishment of conventions defining acceptable wartime behavior and the development of effective means for the peaceful resolution of conflict. In 1864, for example, a conference of European powers drafted the first of the so-called Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of civilians and enemy soldiers in time of war. Several decades later a conference in the Dutch city of The Hague led to the founding in 1899 of a Permanent Court of Arbitration for the settlement of international disputes. Despite the success of these and subsequent conferences, there was as yet little interest in the establishment of a permanent association of nations.

The devastation of the World War I (1914–1918), however, sparked a dramatic shift in public opinion. In a series of speeches, widely esteemed U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) urged the creation of a permanent body for the nonviolent resolution of international conflict. The result was the League of Nations, established by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. A covenant attached to the treaty laid out the means by which the League aimed to reduce the frequency and impact of armed conflict; these included the arbitration of disputes, multilateral arms reduction agreements, and joint action by League members against aggressor nations. Its structure foreshadowed many of the most familiar features of the UN, including a general assembly of all members and an executive council with both permanent and rotating members. Despite the hopeful, enthusiastic atmosphere of its founding, the League faced serious obstacles from the outset. Its legitimacy and credibility were severely damaged by the refusal of several powerful nations, notably the United States, to participate. The greatest obstacle, however, may have been its association with Versailles, a treaty widely viewed in Germany and elsewhere as a vindictive and unfair demonstration of power by the victors of World War I. Versailles thus deprived the League of the neutrality required for the successful mediation of disputes. The final blow to its credibility was its failure to stop or even delay the growing aggression of German dictator Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) in the 1930s. Nearing the end of World War II in the 1940s, the League had ceased to function altogether.

The need for a permanent assembly of nations remained, however, and in August 1944 representatives from four of the major Allied powers—the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and the Soviet Union—met at Dumbarton Oaks, in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., to draft possible charters for a stronger, more credible organization, one that focused on the basic needs of the world’s growing population as well as on the increasingly complex geopolitical situation. At a subsequent meeting in June 1945 in San Francisco, the representatives of fifty nations finalized and signed the charter of an organization to be known as the United Nations. Poland, whose post–World War II government was not established in time for the San Francisco meeting, signed the charter later that summer, thus bringing the number of founding members to fifty-one. The UN officially began work on October 24, 1945, following the charter’s ratification by a majority of members.

Government Structure

The UN’s membership has grown enormously since its founding, in part because of the number of former colonies that became sovereign, independent nations in the decades following World War II. As of 2007, there were 191 members, a total that represents nearly every nation in the world. The organization’s basic structure, however, has not changed dramatically. At its heart remains the all-member General Assembly (GA), which meets at UN headquarters in New York City. GA sessions usually begin in September and end in December, though special sessions can be called if circumstances warrant. Each member has a single vote, a policy designed to neutralize the often enormous disparities in power that color most intergovernmental relations. Theoretically, at least, the tiny Pacific nation of Palau wields as much influence in the GA as the United States or China. Whether this remains true in practice is the subject of some debate. Topics under discussion vary widely from session to session; in recent years the GA has discussed the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of the Sudan, the consequences of global climate change, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The last of these has been a staple of meetings since 1945. Though votes on most matters are decided by simple majority, certain topics, notably budget questions, require a two-thirds majority. Votes on international matters (as opposed to internal UN business) are nonbinding, but they provide policy makers with a clear sense of international opinion.

More prominent than the General Assembly is the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the UN’s principal mechanism for the preservation of peace. Five of the UNSC’s fifteen members hold permanent seats: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, and the Russian Federation (formerly the Soviet Union). The other ten members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. This mixture of permanent and rotating members, a legacy of the League of Nations’ executive council, is intended to balance the interests of the world’s most powerful nations against the right of smaller members to have a voice in Security Council deliberations. The Security Council meets in New York whenever events demand it, or at a member’s request. Measures need nine of fifteen votes to pass, though each of the five permanent members holds veto power. The UN’s founding charter requires all members to adhere to Security Council decisions, often known as resolutions. In practice, however, enforcing resolutions can be difficult, and several from decades past remain unfulfilled. One of the most famous of these is UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 242, passed in November 1967 at the end of the so-called Six Day War between Israel and an alliance of Arab armies. The resolution mandated Israel’s withdrawal from territories it had seized during the war and the recognition by all parties that both Israelis and Palestinians had the right to live within safe, secure, and internationally recognized boundaries. “Two Four Two,” as it is often known, was intended to be the foundation for negotiations aimed at a lasting peace. Despite occasional progress, however, the regional situation remains much the same forty years later.

Unlike the League of Nations, however, the UNSC does have some ability to enforce its decisions. The question of when and where to exercise this ability is probably the Security Council’s single greatest preoccupation. The most common enforcement method involves a range of economic sanctions, some relatively minor and some quite severe. By restricting trade with a noncompliant state, the Security Council tries to persuade, or force, the state’s leaders to obey. In 2001, for example, UNSCR 1,343 barred all member nations from receiving exports of diamonds from the African nation of Liberia, then engulfed in a civil war largely funded by diamond sales. This resolution is widely credited with speeding the end of the war and restoring a stable, democratically elected government, and the sanctions it imposed were removed in 2007.

If sanctions fail, the UNSC is authorized under the terms of the charter to consider the use of joint military force. In practice, however, nearly all of the military forces dispatched by the UN have been peacekeepers, whose use of arms is strictly limited. Peacekeepers monitor ceasefires, patrol disputed borders, establish demilitarized zones and safe havens for civilians, and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. Since its founding, the UN has dispatched peacekeeping forces more than sixty times. One of the earliest operations, on the disputed border between India and Pakistan, began in 1949 and is still in place.

Though the Security Council and, to a lesser extent, the General Assembly are the most visible units of the UN, they are only two of the organization’s six divisions. The other four are the Secretariat, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, and the International Court of Justice. The last of these is located in The Hague; the other five are based in New York. The Secretariat handles most administrative and logistical matters. At its head is the secretary general, who is elected by the General Assembly after a recommendation from the Security Council. By exercising its veto, any of the five permanent members of the Security Council can exclude a candidate from further consideration. The term of office is five years, with no limit to the number of terms. Typically, UN secretaries have spent much of their time on personal diplomatic missions, meeting with heads of state and making media appearances to raise awareness of current issues. Ban Ki-moon (1944–) of South Korea succeeded Ghana’s Kofi Annan (1938–) as secretary general on January 1, 2007.

The Economic and Social Council (ESC) is essentially a subcommittee of the General Assembly, which elects fifty-four of its own members to the smaller body for three-year terms. The ESC acts as a clearinghouse for the research and policy recommendations of various UN offices (including the UN Environment Programme, the UN Development Programme, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime), summarizing and disseminating this information to the General Assembly and the public. The ESC meets year-round, in addition to holding a special month-long series of high-profile discussions every summer.

The Trusteeship Council, the fifth of the UN’s six divisions, is effectively defunct. Its mission—to protect the interests of eleven so-called Trust Territories as they prepared for autonomy or independence—came to an end when the last remaining territory became the independent nation of Palau in 1994. Established in 1945 in accordance with the UN charter, the Trusteeship Council provided oversight only for territories that met one of the three following conditions: ruled by a foreign power under a mandate from the League of Nations; detached from Germany, Japan, or their allies as a result of the war; or placed under UN trusteeship voluntarily by the ruling power. Technically, the Council is still in existence, with the five permanent members of the Security Council as its members, but it is unlikely to be called back to work.

The last division of the UN is the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Also known as the World Court, it is not to be confused with the International Criminal Court (ICC), also located in The Hague. The ICJ handles disputes between governments, while the ICC is concerned with the prosecution of individuals charged with grievous offenses, chiefly war crimes, and is independent of the UN. The fifteen judges of the ICJ are elected by majority votes in the General Assembly and Security Council. No two judges may be citizens of the same country. Each serves a repeatable term of nine years, and elections are staggered, with five seats open every three years. The court can hear cases only with the consent of both parties, and that consent can be withdrawn at any time before the verdict. Once the verdict has been read, however, both parties must obey it. Unanimous decisions are uncommon; as in the U.S. Supreme Court, judges who disagree with the majority of their colleagues may file dissenting opinions. The majority’s decision stands, however, and there is no appeal.

The six divisions, large as they are, represent only part of the UN’s global reach—a vast array of affiliated organizations exists outside the central framework. The closeness of their affiliations varies widely. Some, like the Universal Postal Union, are formerly independent organizations that have been incorporated into the UN, though they may retain some autonomy in policy or administration. Many others, notably humanitarian groups and other nongovernmental organizations, simply have a close working relationship with UN staff. Finally, there are more than thirty specialized agencies, founded by the UN but independent of it. These include the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the World Food Programme (WFP); the latter agency feeds roughly ninety million people per year.

Political Parties and Factions

For the first forty-five years of the UN’s existence, the principal division between members was the split between the Communist bloc, led by the Soviet Union, and the non-Communist, or Western, bloc, led by the United States. The enmity between these rivals tended to overshadow other rivalries based on religion, geography, or economic development. These latter, long latent divisions, however, have grown more prominent with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. One of these divisions is the split between highly conservative Islamic states like Iran and more secular ones like Jordan. Another split, which is very real but often oversimplified, divides the Islamic and non-Islamic worlds, while a third divides the generally underdeveloped Southern Hemisphere from the wealthier Northern Hemisphere.

Amid this growing fragmentation, several nations have formed influential alliances. The most significant of these ties are probably those linking the United States with Israel. The relationship between these two nations is a complex one; within the context of the Security Council, the United States tends to act as Israel’s protector, often exercising its veto to prevent the passage of resolutions that criticize Israeli policy. Another influential bond links the United States to the United Kingdom. Though strong for decades, this relationship grew even closer with the support from U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair (1953–) of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The fact that both the United States and the United Kingdom have permanent seats on the Security Council is seen as unfair by several members opposed to the war in Iraq. Internal frustrations and disagreements are inevitable in an organization as enormous and diverse as the UN. These disagreements must be addressed, and the UN is constantly reevaluating its policies, organizational structure, and procedures in light of that necessity.

Major Events

On August 19, 2003, a truck bomb exploded outside Baghdad’s Canal Hotel, headquarters of the UN mission to Iraq. Twenty-two people, most of whom were UN staff, died, and more than 150 people were injured; among the dead was then Secretary General Annan’s special representative in the war-torn nation. Annan withdrew all staff pending the findings of an independent panel he commissioned to study security procedures. The panel’s report, released in October 2003, found a general disregard of security protocols and poor management of security forces. After reforms, a smaller mission returned to Iraq the following year. Meanwhile, a terrorist organization associated with Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (1966–2006) claimed responsibility for the attack, denouncing the UN as “the friends of the oppressors and aggressors.” The incident illustrated both the UN’s vulnerability and its willingness to acknowledge its own mistakes.

Twenty-First Century

The changing nature of conflict poses a major challenge to the UN in the twenty-first century. The UN exemplifies the diplomatic tradition of peaceful negotiation between established, sovereign states. Many of the world’s conflicts, however, are no longer amenable to that tradition. The East African nation of Somalia, for example, has lacked an effective central government since 1993. The nominal government has very little power, and many regions of the country are essentially lawless, dominated only by a constantly shifting group of warlords, terrorists, and common criminals. Traditional diplomacy does not work in Somalia, for the simple reason that there is no government with which to negotiate. New methods of handling violent, anarchic situations are desperately needed. If the past is any indication, the burden of developing and using those methods will fall on the United Nations.

Kennedy, Paul M. The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations. New York: Random House, 2006.

Smith, Courtney B. Politics and Process at the United Nations: The Global Dance. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2006.

United Nations. “About the United Nations: Introduction to the Structure & Work of the UN.” (accessed June 10, 2007).