The United Nations (UN) was established in 1945 by the five victory
powers of World War II - China, France, the United Kingdom, The United States of
America and the former Soviet Union to maintain the post-war peace. Its Charter
was drawn up by representatives of fifty countries and ratified by the original and
permanent members. According to Article 1 of the Charter, the UN’s primary
purpose is “to maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take
effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the
peace”1. Today, 191 states are members of the global organization and subscribe
themselves to the UN Charter to share the responsibility for international peace
and security.
The Charter established six principle organs, of which the Security Council
is the most important with the primary responsibility to settle different kinds of
conflicts to maintain the global peace and security. While other organs make
recommendations to governments, the Council alone has the power to take
decisions and initiate actions including the use of force, which Member States are
obligated under the Charter to carry out.
The Security Councils consists of 15 Member States: the five permanent
ones, which can veto any draft resolution on substantive matters reflecting the
assumption that the major powers would act together to provide collective global
security, and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year periods. When a
complaint concerning a threat to peace is brought before it, the Council usually
recommends the parties several peace-making methods like negotiation,
investigation or mediation to reach agreement by peaceful means. When a
dispute gets worse or leads to fighting it is empowered to call for cease-fires,
order economic sanctions, and even authorize military action against an
aggressor on behalf of the UN. One tool for maintaining international peace and
security not embodied in the Charter is the use of peacekeeping forces to prevent
existing dispute from reigniting “using force only in self-defence, and operating in
a neutral and impartial way with the consent of the parties to disputes”2.
Unfortunately, administrative and budgetary constraints limit the UN’s
capacity to respond to every serious threat to peace. [...]
1 “United Nations, Divided World – the UN’s Roles in International Relations”, 1996, p.500.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Critical evaluation of the UN’s management of global peace and security
3. Conclusion
Objectives and Topics
This paper examines the efficacy of the United Nations in maintaining global peace and security. The central research question explores how well the UN manages these responsibilities, with a specific focus on the limitations imposed by administrative, financial, and political constraints, and the subsequent implications for international stability.
- Historical background and evolution of the United Nations.
- Structural limitations of the UN Security Council and member state influence.
- Analysis of peacekeeping missions as a primary management tool.
- Case study of the Cyprus conflict to illustrate systemic failures.
- The role of underlying religious, ethnic, and nationalistic factors in conflict resolution.
Excerpt from the Book
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE UN’S MANAGEMENT OF GLOBAL PEACE AND SECURITY
There is no doubt that the apparent inability of the UN to prevent the outbreak of devastating wars, conflicts and civil disturbances is frustrating. Since 1980, about thirty to forty conflicts arise each year and many of them seem to arise from known causes. Therefore, one could assume that they are preventable in their early stages but there is no strategy like an ‘early-warning system’ used by the UN. I think the reason for this is that the UN is a big organisation consisting of nations or states and therefore is only as strong as the mandates and power that the member states give to it. Due to the power given to the permanent Member States in the Security Council, it is mostly carrying out the decisions of the largest powers, which I think are in particular those of the United States at the moment. I see this fact as highly critical as national interests and the larger interests of the international society may not coincide with one another.
As the UN has no military or civilian police force of its own, effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace can only be taken by the members and therefore depends on how their force is educated and equipped. Further problems are still consisting administrative and budgetary limitations restricting the UN in responding to every serious threat to peace and to find the right way to get it settled down. Due to the budgetary limitations, it looks like one tries to concentrate on ‘dangerous’ conflicts to prevent them from escalating to the point where they might affect global stability, but I believe that those decisions are definitely always shaped by underlying motives.
Summary of Chapters
Introduction: This chapter provides an overview of the UN's establishment in 1945, its primary purpose as defined by the Charter, and the functional role of the Security Council in global conflict management.
Critical evaluation of the UN’s management of global peace and security: This section critically analyzes the operational effectiveness of the UN, focusing on systemic constraints and the failure of peacekeeping efforts, highlighted by the prolonged Cyprus conflict.
Conclusion: The final chapter summarizes the findings, arguing that the UN often fails to meet its Charter responsibilities due to member state interests, and calls for significant reforms in preventive and post-conflict strategies.
Keywords
United Nations, Security Council, Global Peace, Security, Peacekeeping, Cyprus Conflict, International Relations, Collective Security, Humanitarian Assistance, Conflict Management, Political Reform, Member States, Sovereignty.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this assignment?
The assignment evaluates the performance of the United Nations in managing global peace and security, specifically investigating why the organization often fails to provide effective solutions to modern international disputes.
What are the main thematic areas covered?
The paper covers the UN’s organizational structure, the influence of great powers on the Security Council, the limitations of peacekeeping operations, and the socio-political complexities of the Cyprus conflict.
What is the central research question?
The research question is: "How well does the UN manage global peace and security?"
Which research methodology is applied?
The author uses a qualitative approach, combining an analysis of the UN Charter and legal frameworks with an in-depth case study of the Cyprus conflict to test the efficacy of current peacekeeping measures.
What is addressed in the main body of the text?
The main body examines the structural and budgetary obstacles faced by the UN, the reliance on member state interests, and the specific failure of peacekeeping forces to resolve the underlying drivers of the conflict in Cyprus.
Which keywords characterize this paper?
The work is characterized by terms such as United Nations, Security Council, Collective Security, Peacekeeping, and Conflict Management.
Why does the author consider the Cyprus conflict a failure for the UN?
The author argues that despite long-term military presence, the UN has failed to address the root causes of the division, enabling a status quo that prevents a genuine, long-term peaceful settlement between the Greek and Turkish communities.
What is the author's stance on the influence of the United States?
The author suggests that the UN often reflects the national interests of powerful member states like the U.S., which can be detrimental to the broader interests of the international society and impartial conflict resolution.
- Quote paper
- Gisela Schneider (Author), 2002, How well does the UN manage global peace and security, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/14727
