Sykorova 1

The United Nations was created some 50 years ago. The main purpose of the UN creation was the creation of a world government. However, it is not a world government since the members are sovereign states that had not empowered the UN to enforce the will of their states. Since the Cold War the UN has played a role in the international security affairs. The UN Charter is based on the principles of equality, sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and obligations. In the UN Charter is also settled down the structure of the UN and the methods after which it should operate. The membership in the UN brings useful benefits for the members. First benefit is the international stability that UN is trying to ensure. The UN is a symbol of international order and it is a mechanism for conflict resolution in international security affairs. Second benefit is that UN promotes and coordinates development assistance in third world countries. Lastly, the UN is a coordinating system for information, collection and publication of international data. The UN structure centers on the UN General Assembly, which coordinates the third world development programs. Parallel to the General Assembly is the UN Security Council where five great powers and ten rotating member states make decisions about international peace and security. The administration of the UN is represented by the UN Secretariat, which is led by the secretary general of the United Nations. The UN has also a judicial arm, which is represented by the World Court (International Court of Justice). The United Nations was created by 51 states in San Francisco in 1945 as a successor of the League of Nations. Like the League of Nations, the UN was founded in order to increase international order and the rule of law to prevent another world war. In the 1950s and 1960 many colonies in Asia and Africa won independence and so the membership in the UN has doubled. The growth in membership has affected the voting patterns inside the UN.

Sykorova 2 Another change occurred in 1971, when Chinas seat on the Security Council had been occupied by the nationalist government on Taiwan Island. The Chinese seat was taken from the nationalists and given to the communist government. Now, the Taiwan government which functions autonomy despite the formal status as a Chinese province, is not represented in the UN. During the Cold War, UN had few successes, and in some way the UN appeared to be irrelevant in a world order. The main purpose of the UN started to be the economic and social problems of poor countries. Third world countries started to use UN as a forum for criticizing the rich countries and the United States in particular. In the 1980s UN registered several important successes in bringing to end violent regional conflicts in Central America and the Iran Iraq War. In Namibia, UN oversaw independence from South Africa and watched at the first nations elections. By the 1990s, UN became the most important tool for settling international conflicts. The largest peacekeeping mission was in the former Yugoslavia in the years 1993 1995.

The Security Council

The main role of the Security Council is to maintain international peace and security, or to restore peace where it breaks down. The decisions which are made by the Security Council are binding for all UN members. It has the power to define the existence and the nature of any security threat, to structure an answer to such a threat and to enforce its decisions. There are five permanent members of the Council the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China. Besides that, the Council has also ten nonpermanent members which rotate

Sykorova 3 for two year terms. These states are elected by the General Assembly from a list of nominees prepared by informal regional offices. The Councils chairperson rotates monthly. Security Council resolutions require nine votes from among the 15 members, but a NO vote by any of the permanent members defeats the resolution. This is so called veto power. Many resolutions were vetoed by the permanent members and many resolutions were not even proposed because they would anyway be vetoed. Members can also abstain on resolutions, a tool used by some permanent members regarding some resolutions without vetoing. China is a frequent user of this tool, because it reserves the veto power for the resolutions that directly affect Chinese security. In 1997 veto of a resolution on Guatemala a country with very strong ties with Taiwan was its first veto after 25 years. The Security Council meets irregularly upon the requests of the UN members. For example, when Kuwait was invaded, when the United States accused Libya of harboring terrorists, when Bosnia was being overrun, the victims called on the Security Council a sort of 911 phone number. The Security Councils power is limited in two ways. First, the Councils decisions depend entirely on the interests of its member states. The ambassador who represents those states at the UN cannot change the Council resolution without authorization from their government. Second, even if Security Council resolution in theory binds all UN members, the member states often try to soften their effect. After the end of the Cold War, the prestige of the Security Council rose and it became more active than before. The first summit meeting of the Council members in 1992 brought together the leaders of the big five. However, in the second half of the 1990s, the UN was marginalized in such hot issues as Iraq (weapon inspections blocked), Angola (UN pulled out), Macedonia (vetoed by China), and large Ethiopia-Eritrea war (passed off to the

Sykorova 4 Organization of African Unity). The most important issue was the 1999 NATO bombing campaign against Serbia proceeded without the authorization from the Security Council.

Peacekeeping Forces

Peacekeeping forces are not mentioned in the UN Charter. When the UN authorized force to reverse aggression the forces involved have been national forces not under UN command. The UNs own forces have been peacekeeping forces working to calm regional conflicts, playing a neutral role between warring forces, etc. Authority for peacekeeping forces is granted by the Security Council, usually for a period of three to six months that may be renewed. Funds must be voted by the General Assembly. In late 1999 the UN maintained over 30,000 troops in 17 separate peacekeeping or observing missions in five world regions Russia/Eastern Europe, South Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. The largest peacekeeping mission in 1999 was in East Timor. The UN oversaw elections in which residents of East Timor a former Portuguese colony occupied by Indonesia voted for independence. In response, the Indonesian army presided over a campaign of killing and burning by pro-Indonesian militias. The UNs other largest peacekeeping operations in late 1999 were in Sierra Leone (keeping a civil war from recoming), Lebanon (monitoring the war-torn Israeli border area), and former republics of Yugoslavia, which had the largest concentration of UN peacekeepers. The peacekeeper missions contain two different functions. Firstly, the observers which are unarmed military officers sent to a conflict area in small number simply to watch what happens and to report it back to the UN. Observers can monitor different aspects of countrys situation, such as cease-fires, elections, respect for human rights, etc. this kind of monitoring 4

Sykorova 5 was very useful for example in the transition from war to democracy in Nicaragua and El Salvador in the 1990s. Second function is the function of peacekeeping itself and it is brought by armed soldiers. These armies play different roles. They can interpose themselves between warring parties to keep them apart. The often try to negotiate with military officers on both sides. Peacekeeping missions are more difficult if one of the parties feels the UN is being biased toward the other side. Israel feels this way about the UN forces in the south of the Lebanon.

The Secretariat

The secretary-general represents the member states, especially the five permanent Security Council members. The secretary-general is nominated by the Security Council by requiring the consent on all five permanent members and must be approved by the General Assembly. The term in office is for five years with the possibility to renew it after. For example, in 1996 Boutros-Ghali fought for a second term, with the support of almost every UN member, but the United States opposed him and prevailed. The Secretariat of the UN is the executive branch, and it is headed by the secretarygeneral. It is a bureaucracy for administering UN policy and programs. One purpose of the UN Secretariat is to begin to develop an international civil service of diplomats and bureaucrats.

Sykorova 6

The General Assembly

The General Assembly is made up from all 189 member states of the UN, each with one vote. It usually meets every fall in plenary session. The Assembly meets every few years for special sessions on general topics like economic cooperation. The General Assembly has the power to accredit national delegations as members of the UN. The main powers of the Assembly lie in its control of finances for UN programs and operations. It can also pass resolutions on various matters, but they are not binding on the members. The Assembly coordinated UN programs and agencies through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which has 54 member states elected by the General Assembly for three-year terms.

UN Programs

The programs are funded partly by General Assembly allocations and partly by contributions that the programs raise directly from members states, businesses, or private charitable contributions. An area of UN programs operating under the General assembly aim to help countries to overcome social and economic problems. UNICEF is the UN Childrens Fund which gives technical and financial assistance to third world countries for programs benefiting children, including emergency relief. It is financed by voluntary contributions.

Sykorova 7 The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) coordinates efforts to protect and repatriate the large number of refugees who try to escape from war and political violence. The UN Development Program (UNDP) is funded by voluntary contributions, and coordinates all UN efforts related to third world development. The UN has played an important role in the post Cold War history and it will still play an important international role in the area of international security and in the area of social end economic help to the third world.

Sykorova 8

Bibliography

www.un.org

USIA Electronic Journal, Vol.3, No.2, April 1998

Robert O. Keohane, Power and Interdependence, Third Edition, 2001

Louise Fawcett and Andrew Hurrell, Regionalism in World Politics, Oxford University Press, 1994.