Jessica Nosalski Dr.

Mbengue 10/20/2013 The United Nations The United Nations and Efficiency A universal truth of the world shows that all individuals differing opinions; since these individuals thoughts are all so diverse in all aspects ranging from domestic thoughts to international relations, an organization had to be created in order to deal with the strife that was occurring between countries. The first organization that attempted to deal with this was the League of Nations; created after the First World War, the League of Nations attempted to make future wars nonexistent. However, the League of Nations lacked vital states, such as the United States, as well as any power over states around the world. The League of Nations may have failed, but it was a precursor to the current international organization named the United Nations. The United Nations works in a similar way to prevent future wars and attempt to have peace within both states and around the world. However, within todays society the United Nations fails to fully achieve its ultimate goals that it attempts to achieve within the international community.

The United Nations began similarly to how the League of Nations started: after a World War. After the immoral truths and war crimes of World War II were uncovered, fifty-one states joined up in order to create an international organization where safety and security were vital. In this organization, the states agree to be part of a collective response in order to increase peace within the international community by supporting agreements and treaties between states, providing a place to discuss differences of opinion, and intervening within states if human rights are ever being violated. In order to address all the varying kinds of issues and problems that may arise, the United Nations has six factions: the International Court of Justice, the Trusteeship Council, the Economic

and Social Council, the Secretariat, the General Assembly, and the Security Council. One of the current negative aspects of the United Nations is the Security Council. The council is made up of the P-5, or the five permanent members of the council which are the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China; the council also has ten nonpermanent, rotating members. The United Nations is flawed in this regard because they have these five permanent members, namely the winners in the Second World War. This is deemed as an unfair principle to other countries because the Security Council is still being operated on the basis of the Second World War. The United Nations gives an immense amount of power to the P-5, allowing them veto power over all decisions made by the Security Council. This is very powerful because if merely one permanent member votes against a decision, then the resolution will automatically not go into effect. In order to deal with the changing times and changing powers in the international community, the United Nations should either include more superpowers within the Council or remove some positions. The international community is seeing shifts in power constantly and this should be exemplified within the United Nations; however, this reform will would be difficult to achieve because those in a higher state of powerful are unlikely to want to change their amount of power that they currently hold. The United Nations must reform the Security Council in order to reduce tension and promote more equality in within the international community.

Another key aspect that the United Nations focuses on is intervention within the international community; this is one of the most important aspects that separate the United Nations from any other international entity. This is an important but sometimes disputed that the United Nations can perform some states question what gives the United Nations authority to intervene and it is also disputed in what situations the United Nations may intervene in. The United Nations chooses to intervene in places where extreme examples of human rights are being disregarded. This is another place where the United Nations fails in doing its job completely. While the United

Nations claims that it will step in where human rights are being violated, there have only been a few times where the United Nations has actually done so while many other acts of transgressions have remained untouched because of hesitance. When notified of ethnic cleansing and genocide in places such as Bosnia the United Nations failed to respond correctly because of the P-5. Since the Russians on the Security Council were allied with Serbians, the Russians could veto any action that would help individuals in Bosnia. This lack of action displays how the P-5 and the intervention process must be reformed within the Security Council. Another specific example is that the United Nations may pick and choose who to support and who to ignore. Most recently, this has been displayed by the United Nations helping the situation in Libya while ignoring the conflict in Syria. Relationships between member states and individual relationships are still impacting the United Nations decisions which lessen the helpfulness and legitimacy of the United Nations.

The United Nations also oversees more individualized factions other than its main six factions. These other factions all deal with a more narrowed focus on individual topics so that the United Nations can be more effective in dealing with issues. Some of these other specialized programs are the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Health Organization. The World Bank is another example of a failed United Nations attempt although it tries to give money to developing nations to ensure better governance and stability, it often fails in this purpose. Corrupt governments may use the money for their own gain and not use any of the money to serve their people. While the original purpose of creating the World Bank and similar institutions was a good one, it is another example of how the United Nations has failed to live up to its intended purpose.

The United Nations also serves as a place for public forum of debate. With this, representatives from a range of different countries come together in order to discuss issues and try to make agreements. Issues that are brought up in front of the United Nations rarely get resolved in this

forum because of the range of issues that the countries have with one another. Although the United Nations offers a place for discussion, issues are rarely settled. Thus, wars are still occurring all the time despite the attempts that the United Nations have made. Along with this, the United Nations does not employ enough military force when considering how engrained force is within the international community. The United Nations is powerless without confirmed support from states and with this, they are deemed weak to rivalry countries or states. A clear example of this would be North Korea; when North Korea was testing out nuclear weapons, the United Nations merely considered sanctions instead of force against the state. This type of action makes the United Nations appear weak which weakens its effectiveness in the international community.

The United Nations also fails in the category of terrorism; the United Nations refuses to interact or recognize terrorist organizations. The United Nations promotes peace around the international community while completely disregarding the mass network of terrorist organizations. The United Nations also has no plans to further address the issue of terrorism; this is a clear indicator of the ineffectiveness of the United Nations.

When comparing the United Nations to the League of Nations, it is clear that the United Nations has been much more effective than its predecessor. The United Nations has also had a few good moments as well, notably with Cambodia and East Timor. There has also never been another World War since the Second World War which is in part due to the United Nations. The United Nations also freezes many disputes that could otherwise erupt into more violent outbursts if the United Nations did not mediate it. The United Nations was produced for a good purpose but it is currently not fully playing out to its full potential within the international community today. The United Nations also needs to address terrorism and the role that it plays in the world today. With reforms addressing the issues of power within all factions and the addition of military force, the

United Nations would be better equipped to play its role in the current world. If the United Nations were to fully undertake its role and the countries participating in it were to fully utilize the United Nations, the world would be a more peaceful and just place for all individuals that live there.