Formation of the United Nations

The United Nations was created at the end of the Second World War, replacing the League of Nations

US President Franklin D Roosevelt was a driving force behind the creation of the United Nations

The name “United Nations” was used by Roosevelt to describe the alliance fighting the Axis powers in World War 2

Formation

The four policemen World peace was to be maintained by what

Roosevelt described as the “four policemen”including the US, UK, USSR and China, acting together to prevent conflict

These four policemen, along with France, became the five permanent members of the UN Security Council

The USSR initially opposed China’s inclusion as one of the “policemen”, but Roosevelt insisted. Churchill was not happy about it either.

The birth of the United Nations

June 26, 1945: representatives of 50 countries sign the charter of the United Nations at a conference in San Francisco

UN officially comes into existence on October 24, 1945

https://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/preamble.shtml

The structure of the UN

Security Council: responsible for peace, has 15 members

General Assembly: main deliberative forum of the UN has 191 members

The UN Secretariat headed by the Secretary General

International Court of Justice based in The Hague, Holland

Economic and Social Council- deals with issues of economic development

Specialized agencies such as the World Health Organization, International Atomic Energy Agency, International Labor Organization, the World Bank, the IMF, the ICC

The Security Council The Security Council has five permanent

members: US, UK, France, Russia and China. 10 other countries elected for two year

terms Not all members are equal: permanent

members have the power of veto Charter gives the Security Council “primary

responsibility for international peace and security”

The UN Charter outlawed war except in self-defense

All members were to settle their disputes peacefully

Members were to refrain from the threat of force, or the use of force against other member states

The Security Council, not individual countries, was to decide whether military force is to be used.

Countries were supposed to keep a certain proportion of their armed forces for use by the United Nations

What does the Security Council do to maintain peace?

If the Security Council decides there is a threat to international peace it normally begins by calling for negotiations to resolve the problem

The UN Secretary General or his representative talks to the countries involved and urges them to settle the problemHow is this structure similar and different from the LoN?

If that does not work… Can impose diplomatic and economic sanctions Air and sea blockades If there is still no progress the Security Council

can authorize military action

In more than 50 years, the UN Security Council has only authorized military action in the following cases

Korea Somalia Bosnia Gulf War In all these cases different countries have

undertaken military action with the permission of the UN. The UN itself has not gone to war

The United Nations system was based on the

belief that the great powers who won the Second

World War would continue their war time alliance, and continue to work together

to maintain world peace.

That never happened.