The Purpose of the United Nations - Essay Example

Members are joined together and bound by treaties signifying their participation within the larger UN political framework. The political decisions of member-states are thus constrained by their allegiance and signatory status to overarching United Nations treaties. Established in the wake of the Second World War, the United Nations was created to ensure that the horrors of World War II never happen again. Since the United Nations represents multilateralism, collective decision-making, and negotiation on a global scale it is the most pronounced example of a supranational political body ever created.

Seeking to explore the history, purpose, and goals of the United Nations, this essay will provide a holistic analysis of the United Nations. A supranational organization that evolved in the aftermath of the horrors of the Second World War, the United Nations was created to ensure that the calamity of the Second World War never occurs again through peaceful diplomacy and collective negotiation through intercultural communication. Why was the United Nations established and what role does intercultural communication play within the UN? These questions, and many more, concerning the development of the United Nations, will be analyzed and discussed in depth. We will then summarize our analysis and conclude with a concise overview of the UN.

An international organization that promotes world peace through a variety of social initiatives, the United Nations grew out of the calamity of the Second World War. Presently composed of 192 member states from all corners of the globe, members of this multilateral organization include nearly every recognized country in the world, and membership in the UN is considered the international stamp of approval for statehood. Founded in 1945 after the Second World War, the United Nations replaced the League of Nations, a multilateral organization that was similar in scope but failed to prevent the Nazi terror and the Second World War and was subsequently replaced in the aftermath of that conflict (Green, 1956).

The United Nations exists to promote peace and harmony on an international scale. More specifically though, the UN promotes cooperation and multilateralism in the following realms: international security, international law, human rights, social progress, and economic development. Composed of a variety of administrative divisions, including the General Assembly, Security Council and International Court of Justice among others, the United Nations system seeks to be as representative as possible and truly is a global body with international influence. The Secretary-General is Ban Ki-moon from South Korea, his predecessor was Kofi Anan from Ghana and before Secretary General Anan it was Boutros-Boutros Ghali, a minority Christian from the Coptic sect in Egypt. James S. Sutterlin argues that in the aftermath of the Second World War, the United Nations represented a new paradigm for collective negotiation and multilateralism through intercultural communication and dialogue (Sutterlin, 2003).

At its very core, the United Nations was established to promote peaceful solutions to international problems through multilateralism and intercultural dialogue. Intercultural dialogue refers to a process in which information is shared amongst people of different cultures and in which respect for all people and all parties are shown as part of the dialogue. Intercultural communication seeks solutions from a variety of cultural vantage points and aims to improve dialogue between different cultural groups. The processes of international communication are especially important in light of globalization today and the United Nations has played an important role since its inception in the promotion of intercultural communication on a global scale. Accordingly, the various United Nations administrative units are staffed by people from all over the world and the UN seeks to be as representative of the global community as possible. There are presently six official languages within the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, russian, and Spanish). The UN General Assembly also operates on the notion of “one country, one vote”, thus ensuring representation to some of the most marginal voices on the planet (Yoder, 1993).

A supranational multilateral organization that promotes peace, harmony, and collective well-being, the United Nations represents the best of concerted action and was established on the principle of intercultural communication. Multicultural in composition and outlook, the UN works to promote intercultural dialogue and maintain a secure and prosperous planet. Accordingly, the United Nations has an important role to play in ensuring that the horrors of another World War never occur again (Green, 1956).