The United Nations and the League of Nations - Essay Example

The League of Nations Introduction As the saying goes the League of Nations only faded away, it never died but rather it wasthe building block upon which the existing United Nations was built. The League of Nations was formed after the World War 1 in 1919 during the Paris peace conference with an aim of settling disputes and the prevention of war. The question of whether the United Nations is the child born by The League of Nations, the answer is yes since the failure of the League did not kill the dream of a universal organisation. However, rather it bore the determination to learn from the shortcomings of the past to build a more efficient, well-organised world body to promote world peace (Hoopes and Townsend, et al. 2000) The difference between the two world bodies arises from the circumstances at the time of their inception, and this explains the success and failures. The League of Nations was formed at the end of a war, whereas the United Nations was formed as a war was ongoing (Wells 2005). Covenants were also created by different environments. For instance, the League of Nations’ Covenant was signed behind closed doors with the leading powers of the time namely; France, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US and eventually nine other affiliate countries. While the United Nations Charter was created and signed with the combined efforts of 50 nations present at the San Francisco Conference in 1945. These circumstances of creation were the reason for the failure and success of similar but somehow different world bodies. This paper will base its argument on whether the United Nations was essentially the revived League of Nations on the similarities and differences between the two organisations to ascertain whether one was a build up of the other, or they were created by very diverse situations. This will be in terms of their structures, the treaties signed, their objectives, missions and visions, successes and failures. The structures The League of Nations’ structure was mainly made of the Assembly, the Council and the Secretariat. The Member States were allowed three representatives each in the Assembly and one vote, who met once a year at its headquarters in Geneva and they could also meet up when emergencies arose. The primary function of the Assembly was to control the budget, the membership of the League and appointing of the Council, which was the executive body of the League. The council was the decision-making body of the League; it met on an average of five times a year. Its initial member states where Britain, France, Italy and Japan and four members who were non-permanent, which later rose to six members (Brinkley & Townsend, 2000). The secretariat was in charge of running the other bodies that the League of Nations created. These where the Mandates unit, which oversaw the former German colonies that were put under the watch of the League of Nations (Wells, 2005). The Health Department which tackled the spread of diseases and the Social unit dealing with humanitarian issues. The United Nations structure made up of the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council which is abbreviated as (ECOSOC), the International Court of Justice, the General Assembly and the Secretariat. These four organs are based at the UN Headquarters in New York City while internal court of justice is based in The Hague. Other agencies are in Geneva and Nairobi (Yoder, 1997). Key functions of the General Assembly is to prepare the budget, admission of new members after being proposed by the UN Security Council (UNSC) and elects the non-permanent members of the UNSC and the Secretary General. UN Secretariat administers other UN bodies, for instance, the preparation of the budget (Brinkley & Townsend, 2000). The UN International Court of Justice issues the legal opinion, solves disputes between the member states whose fifteen members are elected by the UN General Assembly. The UN Security Council, whose role is to maintain international peace and security, has fifteen members in which five have Veto powers. The Economic and Social Council coordinates co-operation between the specialised UN agencies (Sucharipa-Behrmann 2001) The Objectives The League of Nations had aims and objectives in its realisation of world peace just as its successor the UN has its objectives. Some of the League of Nations aims include administration of Mandate states, to improve the condition of workers, to protect the territorial integrity and independence of states, promotion of Diplomacy, the reduction of arms race, suppression of Sea pirates and to promote Social, Political, and Economic Cooperation (Brinkley & Townsend, 2000). Whereas the UN is to promote and maintain international peace, to promote the fundamental human rights to promote international law and to promote tolerance and peace among member states. These objectives are in a way different due to the circumstances that were present at the time of conception (Frederick 2002). The Treaties signed The rise of the United Nations brought hope when the transfer from the League of Nations on August 1st, 1946, since it was viewed as a fresh approach to the worlds’ problems of peace and security. However, with this came doubts of hostilities rising again among member states that may jeopardize the early successes of the new global organisation. The only way this dream could be realised was to prepare and sign treaties that were more binding compared to the ones signed by its predecessor the League of Nations, which led to its failure (Farrall 1968) The United Nations adopted the UN Charter published in 1969. The Charter provisioned a detailed political evaluation and recommendation for the future. The Charter contains articles whose main provisions include the international laws covering human rights, terrorism, crimes against humanity, which are contained in Article 2(4) and 51. The United Nations adopted a different strategy when it come to treaties, by introducing one document that would stipulate all the laws when it came to its functions, and this is what has contributed to its success over the years (Brinkley & Townsend, 2000). The Successes and Failures The League of Nations failure after twenty-six years in function was what led to the rise of the United Nations. However, this does not mean that the League of Nations never succeeded during its era. Some of them are successful in running the Danzing and Saar, its secretariat helped in reviving the worlds economy, stabilization of Austria and Hungary in the 1920s, dealt with the tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever and setting up laws which improved the working conditions of workers. It failed to stop the occurrence of the World War II in 1939 to 1945, which made world Nations to form the current United Nations (Brinkley & Townsend, 2000). The United Nations has over the years recorded numerous successes, but it has also heard its share of failures. It has prevented the occurrence of another world war, disarming the world by making it nuclear free, for instance the signing of the ‘Partial Test Ban Treaty’, peaceful resolution of disputes and peacekeeping operations. The WHO, UNICEF, UNESCO have transformed the International social sector, and it has negotiated 172 peaceful settlements which have ended regional conflicts. Its failures include, it never played an efficient role in the Vietnam and Cuban Missile crisis, the number of nuclear powers has increased its opinion in the Hungary and Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union among others (Vaughan et al., 2010) Conclusion These evidences in both the similarities and differences prove that the United Nations success is because of the Failures of the League of Nations. The thirst of promoting world peace is still alive even after the end of the world wars regional conflicts, political, economical and social conflicts that are still emerging. The need for world nations to unite is still experiencing shortcomings but has made tremendous strides in the United Nations a reality born of the dream of the League of Nations. References Brinkley, H., &Townsend, D., 2000. FDR and the creation of the U.N.. Yale University Press, pp. 1-55. Farrall, J. M., 1968. United Nations Sanctions and the Rule of Law. New York: Cambridge University Press. Frederick, G. H., 2002. The United Nations and Other International Institutions: A Critical Analysis. New York: Rowman & Littlefield publishers. Sucharipa-Behrmann, L., 2001. The United Nations: Law and Practice. New York:Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. Vaughan L., Roberts, A., Welsh, J., & Zaum, D., 2010. The United Nations Security Council and War: The Evolution of Thought. London: Oxford University Press. Wells, A., 2005. The United Nations: States Vs International Laws. New York:Algora Publishing. Yoder, A., 1997. The Evolution of the United Nations System. New York: Taylor & Francis. Read More