Relevance of the United Nations in A Unipolar World
Relevance
of the United Nations in A Unipolar World
Statement of Purpose :
It is to analyze the functions and performance of United
nations (UN) in the past and it's significance in today's unipolar world.
HYPOTHESIS:
The United Nations in the central and universally
accepted international organization which is responsible and relevant to
maintain peace and security in the present and future unipolar world.
METHODOLOGY :
This project analyzing the role and relevance of United
Nations in the Unipolar world is based on qualitative approach while
investigating during the research.
The project cities the role of United Nations and then
analysis its significance through different perspectives explained in research
papers. The relevance of United Nations as compared to stronger power is
analyzed through historical instances such as gulf war etc. The methodology
makes use of various United Nations published journals and political view
points.
Questionnaire have also been used to know awareness about
UN issues and its relevance of UN.
UN IS INDISPENSIBLE
UN as an international organization is indispensible and
as rightly quoted by Dag Hammers old, the UN's second secretary general,
"The United Nations was not created to take humanity to heaven but to save
it from hell".
It tried to achieve what the league of nations could not
between the two world wars. It's main objective is to prevent international
conflict and to limit the hostilities.
UN AIDS IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
It was intended to bring countries together to improve
their socio economic conditions and development all over the world.
REFORMATION OF UN POST COLD WAR
After the cold war, there were some changes and hard
realities were faced in the UN.
* The
collapse of the Soviet Union
* Emergence
of US as the strongest power.
* US Russia
cooperation
* Rise of
BRIC nations constituting Brazil, Russia, India and China.
* Rapid
growth of Asian economics.
* Formation
of new countries when independent from Soviet Union and their join UN.
* New
challenges faced by the world like genocide, civil war, ethnic conflict,
terrorism, nuclear progification climate change, and environmental degradation
epidemics to name of few.
Post cold war brought great challenges of the new global
reality. It had the burden to steer clear of two extreme, disregarding both
idealists and scare mongers, scare mangos argument us that the conflicts in
this new world are inescapable and we should be well prepared and better
equipped than the UN to do so.
While true idealists with their rose trimmed glasses
consider United States leadership to be essential. They view UN as over
burdened by its contradictory history. They portray UN as a bulwark of those
egoistic nation states that seek to infringe the rights of minorities.
The UN has always played its role as a world leader to
protect human rights and provide international order.
Its existence makes nations answerable for their human
rights records before the international councils problem solving of many issues
have been dealt through the UN. Nuclear wars have been avoided, achievement
high measures of general peace. Decolonization was substantially achieved in
the European colonies through the work of the United Nations. The example of
that work spread the nation of national independence which ultimately helped to
bring down the Soviet empire. Human Rights conventions have been adopted under
the aegis of the United Nations. Even if human Rights are not universally
respected, the principles do put forward sensitive questions for all the
leaders of the nations.
As a harbinger of new world order, the very fact that
nations must answer for their human rights records before the international
councils of the United Nations is a sign that the accountability of governments
to the people of the world is being accepted.
UN and its programmers like UNESCO ILO, UNDP etc. Are
champions of human rights working for the preservation of cultural treasures of
the world, working for improved labour stands, better food production to feed
the undernourished their work often uncelebrated but still continues.
In this era of triumphant Unipolar World (the world where
one nation that is United States of America today is the Super power) the
decreasing capacity of Un is in my perception merely a short term trend.
In this Unipolar World are exposed to multilateral
threats. Threats like terrorism, poverty, global warming, and natural
calamities to name a few.
The cold war climate gave way to today’s Unipolar world
dominated by market ideologies posed numerous hurdles which have been blocking
the optimum use commanded by the UN developed countries under the leadership of
United States.
These developed countries were not prepared to share their
technological resources with developing example of lending the technology for
manufacturing of super computer to India was denied by US to India during Rajiv
Gandhi’s government. After this the urged Indian scientists to invent it in
India itself.
These developed countries under US leadership percent
global market and global capital as the sole objectives. Unlike UN global cooperation,
relations and global welfare held no consequence.
To testify this another example is US, the leading
country in nuclear power generation head no interest in using the International
Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) for global corporation in nuclear energy instead was
using the IAEA for global policing and implementation of its own ill conceived
nuclear proliferation program me.
UN VS US – TWO WORLD VIEWS
History has proved that the very government and
organizations crated to protect people and up using them.
Sterve Bonta of Un said “power has to tendency to corrupt
people” In 2011, US off its political funding to UNESCO in punishment for poles
tine association with UN.
Many believe that UN and not US should take the lead in
international crises and US should follow the majority consensus.
As Noam Chomsky himself
say “ Obama is running a biggest terrorist operation that exists” America’s
indiscriminate use of drove strikes are war crimes.
The US is not only
killing people whose identity it doesn’t even know. Ten Latin American
countries had death squads, all were US client states.
The powers of US cannot
be easily checked. First of all with the disappearance of Soviet Union, the
only super power’s military and economic power allows it to ignore the UN or
any other international organization.
Still the Un plays a
very significant role Reasons:
1.
Changing
balance of Power
2.
Defamation
of the US
3.
UN’s role
of a negotiation menus
DEFAMATION OF THE US
It all began with the
Gulf War in 1991. US President Bush Maintained that Lraqui President Saddam Husain
possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in violation of his post Gulf war
obligations. In order to find these WMDs. Bush and a ‘Coalition of the willing”
invaded Iraqi without explicit Un security council approval, causing friction
within the Multilateral UN.
By the end of 20th
Century there was an observed and certain decline of the UN role, which was
evidenced by NATO operation in Kosovo undertaken without a Security Council
authorization. The year 2003 can be regarded as a culmination of the Unipolar
World system. As Shashi Tharoor quoted, “ In the world’s role remaining
superpower, the US, influential sections of opinion are all too ready to write
us off” But criticisms of UN getting obsolete is highly over served.
Actually in my opinion
we should not even start to compare the powers of UN vis a vis a US as the
ideologies, objectives and their pursuits towards their goals is absolutely
different.
The objectives of US in
this unipolar world is in defense of their national security rolled with
capitalistic market economy while UN is always striving towards global peace,
security and various other humanitarian causes.
Even United States need
the support and alliances of other nations to achieve its objectives.
Let me cite another
case to this during Iraq war, UN did not support US attack on Iraq. Initially
many countries were pro-US when India supplied fuel to US military, UK and few
other countries backed it with military, UK and few other countries backed it
with military as well as moral support. Eventually, though the nations support
US at the beginning of war, slowly with UN condemning it, was condoned for the
destruction of ancient city of Baghdad, relics of Mesopotamian civilization and
innocent civilians.
CHANGING SITUATION – EMERGING ROLE OF UN
Ironically, the United States started to get negative
attention in the war of Iraq. There were protests both internally and
externally. The Americans started to pay attention to international consensus
and paradonically, the economic crisis all over the world resulted in the sharp
increase in the UN’s role.
The security council became the only platform to carry
out international negotiations.
GROWING IMPORTANCE OF G20
The economic meltdown, past war reconstruction, the
return of Kosoro (Yugoslavia) to the security council to administer the
territory after war, events like these led Washington to discover that US is
better able to win wars alone then to construct peace alone. Well, actually war
against ISIS and other Al Queda yet
seems to be a harsh and distant reality.
“In this Unipolar world with dominance of US, still query
country on earth belongs to the United Nations including the world’s only
superpower” Shashi Tharoor.
The UN holds more relevance today that at any other
period as it has served to bring the US and the rest of the world into
discussions over various issues.
US leaders cannot bring together 190 nations in dealing
with conflict social and economic development.
UN- A
COMMON ARENA
UN provides a neutral, common and legitimate arena in
which it is possible to balance US power, modify and negotiate with US, make
arrangements and encourage other nations to get support, be heard and make compromises.
GLOBAL CHALLENGES DEMAND GLOBAL SOLUTIONS
Hence, even in this Unipolar World, UN has been
indispensible in preventing regional crisis from Congo to Cypress to
Afghanistan, East Timor, all these being very globally diversified challenges.
Humanitarian relief to millions in need helping people to
rebuild wartorn countries, fighting apartheid, protecting children, dealing
with poverty, famine and flood, promoting decolonization, providing vaccines
and other preventive and curative measures to the needy countries and above all
placing climate change on top of critical issues are only some of the selfless
yet most relevant issues UN is relentlessly working for.
EMERGENCE OF BRICS – DECLINE OF UNIPOLAR WORLD
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are showing
high rates of economic growth. This has dramatically changed the unipolar world
order with BRICS countries developing common economic and political interests.
BRICS with Russia and China already the permanent members of Security Council
now gain greater hold on SC activates.
The establishment of BRICS have become a driving force of
the world economy as well as driving at high rate to diminish unipolarity and
make way for multi polored world.
CONCLUSION
With the collapse of bipolar world in the 1990s and
substantial decline in UN’s role during the unipolar world, has been merely a
short term trend challenges faced by UN are many and most crucial being
rebuilding US-UN relationship to respond to dangerous terrorist attacks, ISIS
etc. US and rest of the countries will have to white and come together at
United Nations UN is that organization which converts war tune alliances into
peace organization and creates a system of laws to make this world a latter
place. A unipolar world will eventually think about its profits and self
development while without UN the world would not be able to tackle problems
like chronic starvation, AIDS, poverty, education etc. alone.
These problems are met of one country alone, hence its
the United Nations which can cross frontiers endever of all nations to find the solutions. United
Nations is surely an indispensible organization in this globalizing world
although it showed its failure at times. United Nations second secretary general,
Dag Hammarskjold once said, “The United Nations was not created to take
humanity to heaven but to save it from hell”.
Unipolar world symbolizes violation and abuse of
humanitarian laws and rights combined with moral superiority. In this
multipolar world, new powers are emerging and reasserting themselves.
Though it has been
as sometimes bureaucratic and inefficient yet it serves as the most
prominent and foremost international forum of discussion and resolution of
global issues.
The UN still remains the most legitimate institution
authorizing military intervention. UN peacekeepers are the source of global
piece enforcement and crisis prevention. The UN truce supervision Organization
(UNTSO) authorized in 1948, is still going on UNTSO is keeping a check on the
Arab- cease – fire and has successes
in over 60 countries like Lebanon, Cyprus, Egypt, Yemen and Liberia. UN is the
impartial, international police force preventing territorial conflicts and
genocides as in Magma- Karabachos and Abkhazia. The international criminal
court prosecutes individuals for genocides, crimes against humanity and war
crimes.
The impact of the United Nations in the twenty first is
to provide resources for tackling global problem and implement resolutions
pertaining to national security, sovereignty. It is possible only through the
United efforts of all the nations and not by one country even though is
numerous UNO in power.
The UN has its own challenges and imperfections but
without it the world would be worse off. With the independence between societies
and countries evolving UN helps in building coalitions like the campaigns to
ban landmines, stop the use of child soldiers and divert global media’s
attention towards human rights abuses or garner support for its several
humanitarian projects.
The UN is the only organization present today in this
dynamic world which ensures regulation, coordination, and monitoring the issues
concerning global security through nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation,
test ban agreements.
The UN still relevant but with restructuring and new
governance will further strengthen its position is certainly to think of our
world without WHO UNDF IMF UNICEF RED CROSS like agencies. There is surely no
other organization working towards common objectives and dreaming the same dream
of global prosperity.
QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS
The questionnaire prepared was to generally assess
people’s knowledge about UN and how relevant they think it is in today’s time.
The set of 11 questions with multiple choice answers were
given to 8 subjects within the age group of 16-60 years old.
The questions about various UN agencies and their
functions didn’t get correct answers by the majority.
The questions concerning the relevance of United Nations
were answered positively.
RESULTS
1. UN is still considered a very relevant international
organization.
2. US and Un can and should work together for a better
world.
3. UN is the main negotiating and common platform for global
issues.
4. UN does support USA in various issues, many respondents
agreed.
5. All the respondents answered in favour of UN, its
relevance in today’s world and tomorrow and believed the UN and USA with its
allies should work together.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
7. www.un.org/un70/en
content/70ways.
8. Google image.
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