[October 24, 2015] Seventy years ago on this date the United Nations was born. And today we’ll see and read a lot in the media about the greatness of the organization, its accomplishments, its ownership by all peoples, and its evenhandedness in crises. There will also be a few complaints about it for academics to study with the hopes of humankind making it better. However, the legitimate question that will not be asked is whether the UN’s expenditures were worth it.
The UN was born of necessity as the Allies in World War II wanted a world-based organization that would oppose the Axis powers like Germany, Italy, and Japan. The senior most leadership – the United States, USSR, Britain, France, and China – were the main influence and thus the UN largely favors how things were done organizationally 70 years ago when its initial objective was to defeat the expansionist militarism of the Axis countries.
While the UN evolved from its original mission to prevent another conflict like WWII, it has expanded greatly beyond its original intent. Today its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict.1 With such a wide variety of missions (not all of them clear) and surprisingly weak leadership, the UN has been hurt by its bureaucratic bumbling and interest groups pushing special agendas.
If we were to measure its success based on its original mission to prevent world war, it has been a sensation. But that is no longer its focus and those who argue the UN should return to that role are not being listened to any longer. The world, as they say, has moved on. So has the UN. If we were to measure its usefulness based on its newer missions, very few can say the UN is successful. Partly due to internal problems and external issues, it has spent huge sums of money, ineffectively accomplishing its missions, and tarnishing its image.2
Yet today we recognize the United Nations for being a part of the peaceful efforts that have succeeded since WWII. For that it deserves our respect.
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- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations
- For a good summary of the serious criticisms of the UN see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_United_Nations