UNITED NATIONS

United Nations

United Nations

Introduction

This paper examines the role of the United Nations (UN), based on the three most effective theories on the canvas of international relations. These theories are realism, liberalism and Marxism. The United Nations itself is not a single power of many critics, nor is the fear of other blundering contempt. It is useful to remember that the United Nations is neither a unitary government nor the Federal Government. The United Nations is a conspiracy in which the sovereignty is for each individual member (Hillen, 2000, 320-325).

Discussion

The United Nations, already six decades old, has traversed a long, strife-formed cold war. Not a superstate above the states, it collectively approaches issues of war, peace, development, and justice, and has sufficient transforming potentials to create a new, better world order. Since the end of the cold war, it has acquired new dynamism, but at the same time it has to be restructured to cope with an emerging complex world of nation-states, various movements, and unforeseen challenges like terrorism (Adebajo & Sriram, 2001, 34-42).

The United Nations, founded in the aftermath of World War II, was established at the San Francisco Conference in 1945 on the principle of collective security. It was the successor to the League of Nations, which had been established after World War I but failed to organize world order on the principles of universality. The United Nations, therefore, took care to avoid the mistakes of its predecessor, and five major powers were given special power and responsibility through the mechanism of "veto" power in the most important organ of the United Nations—the Security Council (Johannes, 1999, 98-105).

The goals of the United Nations were enshrined in the Charter: to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations, to achieve international cooperation, and to work as a harmonizer among nations. Security was the principal goal of the United Nations. Unlike in the league, however, security was not narrowly conceived in the United Nations but was broadened to include socioeconomic justice, human rights, and development. Like the league, the United Nations was based on the principles of collective security. The new principle on which the league and the United Nations were based does not consider security as the individual affair of states or regions but as a collective affair of all states, and aggression against one state is considered aggression against all others. All states are obliged to take collective action against the aggressor (Adebajo & Sriram, 2001, 34-42).

In addition to this their expressed purpose is to minimize international conflict by providing nations with a place and the time need to reflect and "cool off' and so settle disputes in a manner amenable to the majority (Alleyne, 2005, 47-59). Under it, umbrella of its functions can be found attempts to promote cooperative developmental activities among nation states for the social and economic benefit of not only certain regions of the world but for all human kind. This is evident in cases where developed countries provide aid ...