The League of Nations and United Nations - Coursework Example

 The League of Nations and United Nations The League of Nations can be attributed as the building block of the present day United Nations, since the League was built to maintain world peace which was later transformed to UN. The League of Nations was an Inter-governmental organization which was a product of the Paris Peace Conference held in the aftermath of the First World War. The principal mission of the conference was the maintain world peace (League of Nations, 1938: 5 ). On the other hand, the United Nations can be proclaimed as an improvement or rather a transformation on the late League of Nations. The UN, also an Inter-governmental organization, was founded in 1945 with the objective of enhancing the international co-operation. This organization was built in the aftermath of the Second World War and still persists as a progressive organization with the membership of 193 member states legitimizing its presence. Though the vision of both the organizations can concur at a point, yet both follow distinct procedures based of differing ideologies to serve the need of the time. The paper aims at exploring the differences between both the organizations from varied perspectives. However, to begin with an analysis it is crucial to understand a brief background of these organizations. To begin with the League of Nations, as mentioned above as well it was formed in the Paris Peace Conference which was held after the First World War. It was the first ever organization which was created with the mission to maintain world peace. The tools to achieve world peace were identified to be collective security and disarmament in order to prevent wars. The Covenant of the late organization also includes the institution of arbitration to settle international disputed to avoid the risk of war. Furthermore, issues like labor treaties, just treatment for the inhabitants, human trafficking, drug trafficking, global health, arms trade, protection of minority rights and prevailing issue of prisoners of war were also crucial concerns of the League of Nations. From the time period between September 1934 to February 1935, the organization had 58 members. The League also had a distinct feature of promoting diplomatic philosophy, a philosophy otherwise absent in the framework of the global politics. However, the League lacked in the capacity of owning an armed forces and thus relied on the Great Powers of the time for support to implement decisions and treaties. Also, the popular opinion is of the view that the League was generally incapable of preventing major aggression by the Axis Powers, and thus a few members including Germany and Japan withdrew from the League. The United Nations is also an inter-governmental organization which was built to enhance international cooperation amongst states. Since the League of Nations proved to be ineffective, the United Nations was founded as a replacement after the Second World War to avoid future conflicts at all costs (Frost 1943: 64). When the UN was founded, it readily had around 53 members which have now extended to 193 members. The main headquarters of the UN is located in the New York City which has been employed with the privilege of extra-territoriality. Also, other main offices are situated in Vienna, Nairobi and also Geneva. The organization now has an institutionalized funding system where member states voluntarily contribute. Also, the main objectives have now been expanded, a perspective which would be discussed in the paper later. The Charter of the UN was drafted in 1945 and the operation began around the same year. The organization suffered a great deal due to the ongoing cold war between the great powers of the time during its earlier stages. Yet, the organization can be attributed with holding missions in Korea and Congo, and also legitimizing the creation of Israel as a state in 1947. With decolonization, the numbers of member also grew along with the scope of the organization which expanded with time. The UN also holds peacekeeping troops and missions to implement the treaties and charters. To further understand the differences between the organizations, it is important to differentiate them on the basis of structure, ideology, memberships and missions; Creation of the Organization The basic difference between the two organizations can be identified in realizing how the organizations were created, and under which circumstances. The League of Nations was developed after the world saw a huge catastrophe where great powers were seen shedding chaos around the globe. The entire leadership of the winning states had to take responsibility to prevent any such catastrophe from taking place at any cost, since the costs of war on all levels was beyond repair. Thus, as a preventive measure and at the same time, as a damage repair, League of Nations was formed. The leadership, during the Paris Peace Conference which drafted the covenant of the League included Lord Robert Cecil and Jan Smuts, both of whom were credible and competitive personalities. After much debate over the drafts, a consensus was reached and thus, the League of Nations was established by virtue of Part I of the Treaty of Versailles. On the historic day of January 25, 1919, 44 states signed the covenant which then became official (League of Nations 1938:44). However, the mind and soul, the advocate behind the League was Woodrow Wilson who was also awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Yet, United States didn’t join the League due to dire opposition in the Senate which didn’t ratify the covenant. The first council meeting of the League was held on January 16, 1920. In contrast, after the Second World War, there was consensus over the point that the League of Nations evidently failed in preventing war, and thus, further institutional efforts need to be made in this regard. Thus, after the Second World War, the President of the US, Franklin D Roosevelt suggested a successor agency to the League. On his suggestion, the United Nations Charter was drafted over a conference during the 1945. The mission of the UN was to preserve world peace, yet the prevalence of the Cold War made that quite difficult already. Thus, the initiation of the UN was evidently quite distinct from that of the League of Nations. On one hand where the League of Nations was formed with no past experience with such an organization, the United Nations was built over the mistakes of the past. Thus, the United Nations was bound to persist, as it still does, since it was now more efficient and organized as compared to the League since it was founded on more sound grounds. Moreover, the initiation of the League of Nations was based more on fear and perseverance, however, the UN was a result of well thought out procedure as evident from the discussion. Ideology Studying into the ideology of the two organizations, a clear distinction can readily be identified. The creation of the League of Nations was justly based on maintaining world peace, thus, the principles of diplomacy and world peace were inherently present. The ideology can be traced back to the writings of Immanuel Kant, a well renowned philosopher, who advocated for the prevalence of a central body to avoid conflicts amongst states. Also, the realist school of thought believed in the inherent proposition of the anarchy which reflects that every state an innate purpose of protecting themselves and their sovereignty. Furthermore, since there is no central body to govern these states, they go ahead and follow their instincts which always put the world under the danger of war. Out of the two solutions to anarchy, one is the prevalence of a central institution which governs the global affairs with balance of power being the second. Thus, in the scenario pertaining during the time, a central body was required to encourage and implement arms control and disarmament to enhance world peace. Thus, the most relevant yet appealing ideology called for the creation of the League of Nations. The ideology can further be comprehended by the semi-official emblem of the League which contained two five pointed stars along with a blue pentagon. The point was to portray five continents and five races to reflect unity and peace amongst despite the differences (League of Nations 1990: 12-17) . On the other hand, the ideology of the United Nations is essentially distinct from the League. Though the UN also aimed at maintaining world peace, it was also looking to rehabilitate the losses which were done at a large level. For this reason, the expansive range of objectives of the organization included international peace, promotion of human rights, socio-economic development, environments, humanitarian aid, famines and even natural disasters. By this time of the twentieth century the world had transformed to a great extent. The philosophers were now talking about development of the poor states, also newer states were emerging which required immediate help from the more powerful states. Furthermore, the cold war which emerged rights after the UN was formed created further competition amongst the US and the Soviet Union in making alliances with other states, so both states supported rehabilitation of the poorer states to get them on their sides (United Nation 1954: 199). Thus, essentially the scope and vision of the UN was quite expansive as compared to the League. Critical analysis in this context brings to the conclusion that when it comes to ideology, both the UN as well as the League were on distinctive course of action. The league was experimenting for the first time to see how they could bring about peace in the world, thus the ideology was focused and more exclusive. On the other hand, the ideology of the UN was more inclusive of other added ideology as the institution was now the caretaker of the world, more so, robin hood for those in need. The mode of experimentation was over, and the UN advocates were confident that the organization is ready to take the next step. Rather, the enhancement of scope was the need of the time. Structure Given that the ideology along with the creation of both the organizations under study followed a distinct path, it is obvious that the structural differences would also prevail. It is a known truth by virtue of discussion held above that the League of Nations was comparatively a simpler organization in scope and purpose, while the United Nations is quite a complex institution with a larger members base and varied scope. Thus, the structural differences are grounded in the distinctive character of the historical path they followed and the expectations associated with the organs of the institutions. The League of Nations had the General Assembly as the central representative organ of the institution. In addition, there was an executive council which has membership only limited to the major powers. Also, there was a permanent secretariat present to carry out the administrative tasks of the institution. The structure followed the inherent pre-supposition that the member states would be expected to respect and also preserve each other against any external aggression. Also, the structural basis ensured that the territorial integrity of the states would be respected and all member states would negotiate to ensure disarmament to the lowest possible level enough to ensure domestic safety of states. Also, the member states were to submit their complaints for arbitration to the League to hold inquiries prior to going at wars. For this reason, the executive council was assigned the task of creating the Permanent Court of International Justice to proclaim judgments over disputes complex in nature. Furthermore, in contrast, the United Nations constitute six principal organs, namely the General Assembly to carry out the main assembly, the Security Council concerned with the matters of peace and security, the Economic and Social Council to promote socio-economic cooperation amongst member states, the Secretariat to carry out studies, find out information for smooth functioning of the UN, the International Court of Justice as the prime judicial organ, and also the United Nations Trusteeship Organization, UNESCO, UNICEF and also the World Food Programme. The Secretary General of the UN is the most prominent member of the UN. Also, given the complicated tasks assigned to the UN, non-government organizations may also offer consultations with ECOSOC or other similar agencies associated with the UN (Schlesinger 1963: 99) . Given the organized structure of the UN, it was also awarded with the Nobel prize in 2001 due to its effectiveness in maintaining various affairs. Thus, the structure differences are eminent yet inherent, since League of Nations was merely a building block for the UN. Therefore, UN was bound to acquire a more complicated and organized structure which will further be developed and expanded with time. Missions Since both the League and the UN were formed under different circumstances and different times, they undertook different kinds of missions. After the First World War, the League was assigned the task to settle international boundaries and borders. Though most of such issues were handled by the victors of the War, yet, those which were too complicated for them to handle were assigned to the League of Nations. Thus, resolution of territorial disputes was the first step which the League took towards maintaining world peace. However, during the second half of the 1920`, the US and Russia were quite closely associated with the League for diplomatic missions over various issues. Thus, the League was actively involved in improving relations among states. Furthermore, the League played a crucial role in managing other conflicts. For instance, the Greek-Bulgarian border conflict was escalated in October 1925 after which Greek invaded Bulgaria, which the League strongly condemned. Similarly, League also conducted investigations in Liberia after accusations of forced labor. Also, League interfered in the Manchurian Crisis and the Chaco War, both of which they failed to prevent. Similarly, the League was unable to offer any relief during the second Sino-Japanese War (League of Nations 1939: 61). The range of missions carried by the UN is quite distinct in nature. For instance, the institution participated in major actions carried in Congo and Korea, also contributed in creation of Israel in 1947 (Rosner 1963: 77). Also, the organization proved effective in decolonization in 1960`s and the 1970`s. Also, after the Cold War ended, UN got on major military missions as well with varying rate of success. The UN now has an institutionalized process to carry peacekeeping missions. The UN seeks approval from the Security Council after which it sends peacekeepers to areas with armed conflict. Although the peace keeping forces aren’t owned exclusively by the UN, these are voluntary troops offered by the member states. The soldiers for these missions are referred to as the Blue Helmets, blue also being the official color of the UN. The peacekeeping force even relieved a peace prize in 1988. Recently, in 2013, the UN peacekeeping troops were deployed on around 15 missions. The largest of the missions was the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo which deployed around 21,000 personnel. Also, the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan which included only 42 personnel to hold ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir stands to be the smallest mission ever. Also, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization employed at the Middle East since the 1948 holds to be the longest ever running mission of the UN (Howell 2013: 14-15). Thus clearly, UN has held quite complicated and organized missions all around the globe, while failures in the missions can be attributed to both UN as well as the League. Thus, conclusively, the League of Nations can be attributed as the building block of the present day United Nations, since the League was built to maintain world peace which was later transformed to UN. The League of Nations was an Inter-governmental organization which was a product of the Paris Peace Conference held in the aftermath of the First World War. The principal mission of the conference was the maintain world peace. On the other hand, the United Nations can be proclaimed as an improvement or rather a transformation on the late League of Nations. The UN, also an Inter-governmental organization, was founded in 1945 with the objective of enhancing the international co-operation. This organization was built in the aftermath of the Second World War and still persists as a progressive organization with the membership of 193 member states legitimizing its presence. Though the vision of both the organizations can concur at a point, yet both follow distinct procedures based of differing ideologies to serve the need of the time. The paper aims at exploring the differences between both the organizations from varied perspectives. The basic difference between the two organizations can be identified in realizing how the organizations were created, and under which circumstances. The League of Nations was developed after the world saw a huge catastrophe where great powers were seen shedding chaos around the globe. The entire leadership of the winning states had to take responsibility to prevent any such catastrophe from taking place at any cost, since the costs of war on all levels was beyond repair. In contrast, after the Second World War, there was consensus over the point that the League of Nations evidently failed in preventing war, and thus, further institutional efforts need to be made in this regard. Critical analysis in this context brings to the conclusion that when it comes to ideology, both the UN as well as the League were on distinctive course of action. The league was experimenting for the first time to see how they could bring about peace in the world, thus the ideology was focused and more exclusive. On the other hand, the ideology of the UN was more inclusive of other added ideology as the institution was now the caretaker of the world, more so, robin hood for those in need. The mode of experimentation was over, and the UN advocates were confident that the organization is ready to take the next step. Rather, the enhancement of scope was the need of the time. Also, the structure differences are eminent yet inherent, since League of Nations was merely a building block for the UN. Therefore, UN was bound to acquire a more complicated and organized structure which will further be developed and expanded with time. Since both the League and the UN were formed under different circumstances and different times, they undertook different kinds of missions. After the First World War, the League was assigned the task to settle international boundaries and borders. Though most of such issues were handled by the victors of the War, yet, those which were too complicated for them to handle were assigned to the League of Nations. The range of missions carried by the UN is quite distinct in nature. Thus clearly, UN has held quite complicated and organized missions all around the globe, while failures in the missions can be attributed to both UN as well as the League. Bibliogrpahy FROST, F. (1943). Legends of the United nations. New York, Whittlesey house, McGraw-Hill book Co. HOWELL, M. D. (2013). The Role of the Secretary-General in the creation of United Nations forces. Thesis--New York University,. LEAGUE OF NATIONS. (1938). The League of Nations Library. Geneva, Information Section. LEAGUE OF NATIONS. (1990). The covenant of the League of Nations. Champaign, Ill, Project Gutenberg. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1022100. LEAGUE OF NATIONS. (1938). Essential facts about the League of Nations. Geneva, Information Section. The League of Nations: The Mandate System. Geneva: Information section, League of nations Secretariat, 1927. Print. LEAGUE OF NATIONS. (1935). The aims, methods, and activity of the League of Nations. Geneva, Secretariat of the League of Nations. ROSNER, G. (1963). The United Nations Emergency Force. New York, Columbia University Press. SCHLESINGER, S. C. (2003). Act of creation: the founding of the United Nations : a story of superpowers, secret agents, wartime allies and enemies, and their quest for a peaceful world. Boulder, Colo, Westview Press. UNITED NATIONS. (1954). United Nations review. New York, United Nations Dept. of Public Information. Read More