International organizations are ultimately useless in solving

the worlds problems. Discuss.

Following the Second World War which saw death and destruction in
an unprecedented scale, world leaders, determined not to let such
horrors repeat, convened to establish international organizations in
hopes of achieving a more peaceful, secure and prosperous world
for all.
50 years onwards, we witness their dreams and ideals embodied in
international organizations like the United Nations, the World Health
Organization and World Trade Organization. Although these
international bodies are undoubtedly far from perfect, it would be
unfair to claim that they are ultimately useless in view of their
significant contributions to the goal of a better, more prosperous
world.
It is understandable why some would claim that most international
organizations are failures. Very often, such organizations, despite
their public advocation, fail to achieve any actual impact. An oftencriticized organization is the United Nations (UN), which was
established to achieve global peace, security and cooperation. But
despite boasting an extensive membership of more than 300
member nations, the UN has often found it hard both in terms of
making significant decisions and enforcing them.
For instance, despite having UN peacekeepers in the country, the
UN was unable to stop the Rwanda genocide in 1994 that resulted in
the death of tens of thousands. More recently, the UNs inaction
towards the massacre of civilians by the Syrian government, the
indiscriminate bombing of Palestine by Israel as well as the Russian
Federations repeated incursions and provocations toward Ukraine
drew much criticism from the global community.
But to claim that such failures are solely due to the failures of the
UN and other international bodies over-simplifies the situation.
Often, the reason why such international organizations fail to
achieve significant results is due to the fact that states are primarily
interested with their own national interests instead of global
stability. As a result, decision-making is difficult because these state
actors will always decide based on their own interests, making
collective action and consensus buidling extremely difficult.
Furthermore, even when most of the countries agree, international
organizations still find themselves powerless to effect change due to
the concept of national sovereignty which claims that nations
reserve the sole right to decide on domestic issues. Because of
these inherent problems and limitations, it is no wonder then that
international organizations often find their hands tied when facing
global problems.

However, it is certainly not fair to generalize all international

organizations as complete failures as there are plenty of
organizations that have been successful in achieving tangible
improvements to the world. An example would be the World Health
Organization (WHO), which was established to improve global health
and sanitary conditions. In the past 3 decades, the WHO has
drastically improved global health standards. Not only has it
increased worldwide awareness about diseases such as Malaria,
AIDS and Tuberculosis, it has also managed to reduce the incidence
of such diseases and even eradicate some. The WHOs litany of
achievements include the eradication of small pox, the neareradication of polio, as well as the global reduction of AIDS by 38%
since 2001. In view of such significant and tangible improvements of
global health, I belive it would be a gross injustice to claim that the
WHO has been a complete failure.
Another of such organization is the World Trade Organization (WTO),
which was established to promote free trade and global economic
cooperation. As of today, the WTO supervises more than 95% of
total global trade. Despite occasional allegations of favouring
developed countries and its inability to stamp out protectionism, the
WTO has significantly changed the global trade landscape. Through
promoting a global environment conducive for free trade, the WTO
has allowed nations to grow economically and benefit from
increased trade connectivity. A prominent example would be China,
where millions were catapulted out of poverty as a direct result of its
economic growth when it joined the WTO. Closer at home,
Singapore, a small nation devoid of natural resources, has also
relied on a fair and free global trade environment for her growth and
survival in the past 5 decades and will continue to do so. To common
consumers, perhaps the easiest way to experience the benefits of
WTOs work is to walk into a supermarket where we can enjoy goods
from all over the world at the convenience of our doorsteps.
Ultimately, we have to realise that we live in an imperfect world with
imperfect institutions. Although these institutions may lack
effectiveness we desire due to the various limitations imposed,
these limitations are often important and necessary because they
prevent abuses of power and an overstepping of authority by such
international organizations. Regardless of their effectiveness in
achieving change, these international organizations are significant
because they represent the ideals and dreams of our forefathers
that a more peaceful, harmonious and prosperous world is always
within our reach.