Can the United Nations Meet the Key Challenges Facing the International Community Today - Assignment Example

Can the United Nations meet the key challenges facing the international community today? Our world since its origination has been a ‘hotbed’ of activity. Activity in the sense, we humans have been showing activeness both mentally and physically, which have transformed our globe from an archaic one to an advanced one. That advancement is evident in every sphere of our life, as well as in the ‘sphere’, we live in. In addition, that advancement or development is seen in one of the important activities of the ‘sphere’, the activity of politics. With the advancement, humans spread out to new territories. In course of time that territories became cities, states, and eventually countries. Along with this evolution of humans and territories, the political setup, which ruled villages, also evolved and new political setups came into being, to rule cities, provinces or states and importantly countries. So, this evolution and establishment of different countries and their government setups have necessitated the formation of a single, omnipresent overseeing organization. The organization that will look after, how the various countries ‘interact’ in sensitive issues, collude in issues which are detrimental to the third country, their internal affairs etc, etc- the list is an lengthy one. In total, a global government to govern the entire globe or world was the need of the hour and so United Nations (UN) was established in 1945. But, the image of ‘global government’ was compromised by the unilateral actions of few countries. So, this paper will discuss how UN despite this contemporary challenge of unilateralism by some countries is still relevant and optimally functioning with the tag of global government Background UN was started or raised from the ruins of the Second War mainly as an international organization that can prevent any further occurrence of World wars and to look after the basic issues concerning the world population. On 25 April 1945, the ‘seeding’ for the UN was ‘laid’ in San Francisco, when the UN Conference on International Organizations was held with representatives of national governments, non-governmental organizations and important leaders of the world countries participating in it. They were involved in the drafting the UN charter. That charter and thereby the United Nation Organization came into being two months later on June 26, 1945. Around 50 nations who attended the conference and provided their inputs for the drafting of the charter signed the charter, becoming UN members. In course of time, more countries joined it, raising its strength to over 200 countries, giving it a pan-global appeal. So, the term "United Nations", selected by two important leaders of that time, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, came to be used as part of common parlance. UN also spread its wings delving into various fields. That is, UN was categorized and sub divided into various other organizations each focusing on the different aspects of human life, like human rights, cultural outlook, education, economic development, social progress, etc. Although, UN and its sub-organizations face various challenges, its status of global government was mainly challenged by unilateralism. Evolution Since its origination, UN has spread optimally making its presence in all the parts of the world in one way or other – as part of political issues or as part of social issues. But, it’s spread and ‘delving’ as a global government was restricted or kept at low levels due to the rise of uni-polarity in the form of American domination of world affairs. That is, after the end of the Cold War, with Soviet Union’s disintegration, United States of America became the sole superpower due to its military, economic or even media strength. But, this power has reflected negatively in the functioning of the UN. That is, the main purpose of UN is to prevent any war from happening, by adopting the middle of the road approach and by mediating between the involved countries and make them, drop their confrontationist stand. UN played this role with perfection in many circumstances but was ‘made to under-perform’ by USA, making it irrelevant on few occasions. “The disintegration of the Soviet bloc permitted American unilateralism on a scale the modern world has never seen. But with its war against Iraq the United States for the first time openly massed its military power and then invaded another nation.”1 .With the inauguration of the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive military intervention in Iraq in 2003, notion was that UN has been sidelined or even made irrelevant. That is, to control the dangerous initiatives of one leader, USA launched pre-emptive strikes on the country without any UN sanction. Also, along with the support of few of its allies, who are also the culprits of this violation, USA marched into or invaded a sovereign country under the pretext of finding non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction. Even though it did not find any WMDs, it overthrew the persecuting regime of Saddam Hussein. And, because of the preemptive strikes only, it appears that UN had been made irrelevant with one of its founders, USA being at the forefront of this dubious action. But, UN on its part had taken back or reclaimed its preeminent position quickly and started functioning with the same vigor and power. Its workings all these years The United Nations is now considered one of the last vestiges of multilateralism in this unilateral leaning world. But in the hindsight, when one looks at the major part of UN’s existence in this world, one can assume it was the seat of multilateralism and global governance, with multilateralism flourishing in every aspect of its functioning. This proliferation of multilateralism through UN provides the number of countries a forum, where they can come together to share their problems, problems with co-UN members, common problems involving world citizens, etc. This has been the feature of UN for many years with United States of America, being part of UN, supporting and welcoming the UN’s stance on many issues. That is, this different form of ‘subordination’ of United States to United Nations is visible in those times. This ‘subordinative’ attitude of United States could be seen throughout its history with the United States also benefiting from the advantages of living in a world organized according to laws, values, and principles under United Nations. Also, during many of its wars, it tried to maintain UN’s preeminence and importance. That is, USA was not yet into its 30th year of existence when it had to initiate his first war in defense of his interest, when they attacked the Barbary pirates in 1804, and this chain of wars continued, including the first Gulf War. In all these wars, US carried out all its military activities under the sanction of UN, without crossing the limits of the UN charter. UN’s position in those times was sound and strong, with all the principles being ‘upholded’, without any room for loosening of its stand. So, UN played the role of a chief guardian of these sacred principles and did not allow any derogations of it. So, when a country in defiance of the UN, violates these principles, particularly, if it violates the sovereignty of a free country, UN severely condemned it and then tried to stop it militarily, or through negotiations. If all these don’t work out and the specific country continued its violation, economic and social sanctions were imposed. As a way to support UN’s global governance tag and its relevance in current times, there are many occasions when UN, in particular the Security Council, have legislated military intervention in a sovereign state, when the situation in that state is far from appreciable. That is, if the government or external agencies of that country indulge in misrule in every aspect of governance, from human rights violation to financial misappropriations, then military intervention is the only possible option. But, the notion of misrule can vary according to the perception of different countries. This is where UN should be slightly controlled because they should see or get the common view about the countries and governments, without being influenced by external factors. This aspect is the key for UN to meet the contemporary challenges. That is, countries, who are directly involved in the affairs will have one perception, and the countries who are just spectators will have another perception. So, this collage of perceptions about a ‘violative’ or a ‘non-violative’ country will be discussed and after that only the next course of action should be taken, without any biases. The next of course of action could be a military one or in the form of sanctions, that would differ according to the nature of the case. So, the important aspect is, UN is the deciding authority in those situations, with all the countries of the world including US following its decree. So, most of the military interventions were carried under the banner of UN or under the sanction of UN. This has been the working of UN and its relevance was felt all the time. If this status quo is continued for a long time, with the aid of relevant charters, UN has full potential to become a global government and meet all the challenges. Also, UN can implement certain other positive or constructive measures to improve its relevancy and importantly to meet the contemporary challenges. Selective use of economic sanctions Economic sanctions have always been directed against violators of UN principles and against non-cooperative countries. However, the problem with these sanctions is, it does not punish the concerned individuals who are responsible for the violation and non-cooperation. That is, economic sanctions passed against countries like Iraq, and Libya as a form of punishment to its rulers does not have the expected effect on them. Only the common civilians, who are not responsible for those violations are the most affected by these measures. “Security Council’s use of economic sanctions to try to change the behavior of such states as Iraq and Libya, saying that innocent civilians, not the ruling elite, bear the brunt of the suffering.”2. This bad direction of the sanctions will downgrade the image of UN in the minds of the common people, and this in turn will affect UN’s aspiration of becoming a global government, as common people will have negative thoughts against their role. So, selective use of the economic sanctions will be the best option for United Nations to remain relevant in the 21st century and thereby actualize the chances of becoming of a global government. Reforms that will give a pan-global perspective UN Security Council since its origination has been restricted to five members, USA, Russia, France, China and England. So, the Security Council should be extended in tune with the growth shown by various other potential countries. That is, important countries like Japan, India, Nigeria, Brazil, etc. who are right in their claims to be the permanent members should given be that status. Because, it will provide UN a global appeal as concentration of power among few countries have given an image, that it is a ‘big players’ organization’. This does not sound well because all the above-mentioned countries are making great strides to be counted among the big countries. Moreover, the acknowledgment of it, in the form of extension of the Security Council augurs well for UN to meet all the contemporary challenges. Use of Information Technology With the world we are living in the fast mode with information technology being the accelerator, UN should also be part of it. That is, United Nations should integrate information technology in its workings and should fully harness it to improve the lives of the disadvantaged people of the world. “To reach the widest audience, efforts should be pursued to increase access to new information technology, while improving traditional communication means, as their important place was undeniable”3 So, by using IT, UN can be made more effective to face the current day challenges. Improve the humanitarian work of the UN UN’s benefits should mainly reach the common people, who are deprived of even the basic needs. Moreover, that kind of initiative will make UN effective in meeting all the contemporary challenges. For that, UN in the aftermath of wars or civil wars or political turmoil, etc should involve themselves more in the function of nation building. As part of those measures, UN can cancel the loans given by its affiliated organization and also ask other multilateral organizations to cancel it. UN had already done extensive humanitarian services in many countries, and using that experience, it can replicate that success in other countries as well, earning a good image. This is because, common people who were unaware of the machinations of the world politics just need their basic necessities to be fulfilled, and for that UN should do more. These activities will surely raise its image in the minds of the people and will make it more effective to deal with the challenges facing the international community today. UN can only handle peacekeeping force Most countries of the world would not want or allow outside interference in the internal affairs of their country. Moreover, if it is a military form of intervention they will oppose it or even fight against it. So, in those cases, the only viable option they have is the UN’s peacekeeping force. UN can authorize a standing UN army, which can play a non-controversial and bipartisan role. That is, countries will trust and allow the UN force, composed of soldiers from different countries, into their countries to maintain peace and tranquility. So, UN’s role cannot be made irrelevant on the aspect of peacekeeping duty. Peacekeeping, which normally involves mediation, monitoring, and disarmament needs a bipartisan force, which can deal with any situation in the host country, without hurting their people or their sentiments. Any specific country’s official military force cannot deal with a situation in a different country because the soldiers of those countries will have a personal agenda, which may border on their country’s agenda. But, the troops of UN’s peacekeeping force could be ‘sterilized’ from these agendas because they will be absorbed into the force and trained to have an open frame of mind, specifically a humane mind. “UN Secretariat... and the development of a peacekeeping culture that lead to an institutional ideology of impartiality that made it legitimate”4 . Because of this advantage only, USA has been utilizing the services of UN peacekeeping force in locations from Iraq to Afghanistan, not only for their bipartisan role, but also to give a pan-global image. These peacekeeping missions of UN apart from some failures have many successes, changing the country in many aspects. The peacekeepers apart from changing and organizing the political regimes have also changed the landscape of the country and importantly the lives of the people by undertaking many welfare schemes. So, by fully optimizing the peacekeeping forces and performing effective duties, UN can meet the contemporary challenges. Conclusion Unison of countries with an urge to usher the world we live in into a leading ‘utopia’ will be a successful endeavor, if the unified countries show unified conduct. So, if all the countries of this world conduct this way, they can be fully utilized to give a better standard life to the people. And, we cannot build such a world without a strong commitment to work together through the UN and importantly work in a way that will increase its effectiveness and decisiveness5. So, the future of UN will be as bright as the sun with possibility of few clouds, in the form of few countries, blocking it from shinning. So, if UN follows all the above discussed strategies, it will be able to meet all the contemporary challenges and its relevance can be strengthened optimally, thereby becoming a global government. References Barnett, M and Finnemore, M, 2004, Rules for the World - International Organizations in Global Politics, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Kolko, G, 2003, The Age of Unilateral War: Iraq, the United States and the End of the European Coalition, accessed May 10, 2009 from http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack/consequences/2003/0430age.htm Lynch, C, 2000, Annan Seeks Debate on UN Future in ‘Millennium Report’, Washington Post. April 4, A22 Pires, A, Department of Public Information: News and Media Division: New York, accessed May 10, 2009 from http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/pi1772.doc.htm Short, C, What future for the UN? accessed May 10, 2009 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/wtwta/2969184.stm Read More