The United Nations

1
The United Nations
2
The origins and creation of the United Nations

• The signing of the Atlantic Charter by the U.S.
  and Britain (August 1941)
  
• Among others, the Charter provided for the
  establishment of a new collective security system
  for the post-war period
  
• The Declaration of the United Nations (January
  1942)
  
• The Soviet consent to the establishment of the UN
  (October 1943)
  
• The conferences of Dumbarton Oaks
  (September-October 1944)
  
• The conference of S.Francisco and the birth of
  the UN (April-June 1945)
  

3
Putting the creation of the UN into perspective

• The inadequacies of the Congress system and the
  League of Nations
  
• Finding a compromise between power politics and
  democratic principles
  
• Finding a compromise between a realist view of
  international relations and idealistic principles
  of ethics and justice
  
• The structure of the UN
• The General Assembly
• The Security Council
• The International Court of Justice
• The Economic and Social Council

4
Overview of the United Nations

• The main task of the UN is to maintain
  international peace and security
  
• To this effect it can adopt effective collective
  measures
  
• The members are committed to respect the
  Charters obligations
  
• The organisation has also the task of upholding
  fundamental civil and human rights
  
• It can promote social and economic progress
  through international co-operation
  
• However, it does not interfere in the realm of
  domestic competence (art. 2.7 of the Charter)

5
The Assembly

• It is composed by representatives from all the
  member states
  
• It elects the non permanent members of the
  Security Council
  
• It has the power of admitting new members and
  expelling old ones
  
• On all other issues it has only consultative
  power
  
• It can study, discuss, make recommendations,
  examine reports but cannot take decisions without
  the consent of the Security Council
  
• Its recommendations do not have binding effect
  for the member states

6
The Security Council

• It comprises of eleven members
• Five of them are permanent, the others are
  elected by the Assembly for a two year term
  
• They take decisions on the principle of unanimity
  (art.27 of the UN Charter)
  
• The five permanent members also have a veto power
  on the institutions decision-making process
  
• The SC is unable to take decisions against one of
  the permanent members
  
• Its main task is the solution of controversies
  among states through peaceful means and
  diplomacy
  
• It can also impose economic and military
  sanctions
  
• It relies upon national contingencies of armed
  forces

7
The question of the veto power

• The Security Council can take decisions based on
  the majority rule only in normal procedural
  questions
  
• On all security related issues the rule of vote
  is unanimity
  
• The inability of the institution to act against
  the permanent members of the Security Council
  
• This equates to the admission of power politics
• It is a distinction between great and small
  powers but also between the winners and losers of
  the war
  
• However, the UN Charter was not to included in
  the text of the peace treaties
  
• The Korean War, the Assemeblys resolution
  Uniting for Peace and its significance (June
  1950)

8
Other ancillary institutions to the United
Nations

• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• International Bank for Reconstruction and
  Development (IBRD), later World Bank
  
• International Refugee Organisation (IRO)
• Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
• International Labour Organisation (ILO)
• Their limited autonomy from the influence of the
  pemanent members of the Security Council

9
The United Nations since the end of the Cold War

• The use of veto power has considerably diminished
  since the end of the Cold War
  
• The Gulf War, at the beginning of the 1990s, was
  heralded as an example of the ability of the
  Security Council to act
  
• However, the Council continued to be unable to
  end wars among smaller states or caused by
  interethnic conflicts and domestic implosions
  
• The persistent issue of the lack of a strong
  independent army
  
• The failure of Yugoslavia, Rwanda, East Timor,
  Afghanistan
  
• The persisting inability of the UN to constrain
  great powers (U.S. in Iraq)

10
The prospect of reform of the institution

• The problem of an outdated Charter
• The membership and strucure of the Security
  Council do not reflect a profoundly changed
  international system
  
• The problem of the exclusion Germany and Japan
  from the SC
  
• The lack of permanent African and Latin American
  seats in the SC
  
• However, any reform of the Charter would imply a
  majority of two thirds, including the permanent
  members of the SC

11
The UN and IR theory

• The realist discard of the ideas of a world
  government and global governance
  
• International relations remains a zero-sum game
  in an anarchical system
  
• The liberal faith in international co-operation
• Despite its evident limitations, the UN has given
  a contribution to reduce anarchy
  
• The social-constructivist hope of a changing
  discourse about international politics
  
• The UN has contributed to the emergence and
  consolidation of ethical principles in
  international relations
  

12
Conclusions

• An institution that is perceived as profoundly
  inadequate
  
• The difficulty of finding the right balance
  between power politics and the principles of
  ethics and justice
  
• The resistance of the great powers to accept the
  authority of an higher institution
  
• How would the international system be run if the
  UN was not there?
  
• How should the SC be reformed to guarantee
  sufficient effectiveness but also an even
  cultural geographical distribution of power?
  
• Is it realistic to hope that the UN will be able
  in the future to rely on its own armed forces?