The United Nations
The United Nations is the preeminent example of an
international governmental organization (IGO). It was founded in 1945 with
51 members, a number that has increased to 180 today —
including 27 added since 1990 alone, mainly new nations created out
of the former Soviet Union and its satellite countries in Eastern Europe. Its
members reflect numerous different cultures and societies, speak
a bewildering array of different languages, and present an enormous range
of interests and concerns. Yet this global organization manages to function effectively
in a number of vital areas and has assumed increasing importance in
recent years
The United Nations is a formal bureaucratic
organization that relies on a large number of specialized agencies to
conduct its daily business, reflecting the range of problems and issues that
exist in an increasingly interdependent world. Some agencies are concerned with
fostering improved global communications in the areas of mail and telecommunications,
aviation, weather, and ocean navigation. Others seek to enhance social welfare
and promote peace. The latter include agencies concerned with global labor,
food and agriculture, refugees, health, education, culture, banking and
finance, trade, and economic development.
Although the United Nations has engaged in
a small number of peacekeeping and military operations, its major
importance has been in other areas. For example, it has enacted a number
of arms control treaties that restrict or prohibit the use of nuclear,
biological, and chemical warfare. It has also adopted a "planetary
management” perspective calling for action in areas deemed especially important
to the future of the planet. These include the global population explosion and
the growth of enormous, impoverished cities; the status of women and human
rights; global poverty and hunger; the growth of deserts, and balancing
economic development with protection of the planetary environment.
The United Nations, like all IGOs, is ultimately
dependent on the goodwill of its member nations. In this it differs from formal
organizations that exist within a single country, which (unlike the UN)
often possess the means to enforce compliance with their decisions. When the
decisions of IGOs such as the UN run counter to the interests of their most
powerful member nations, they are usually powerless to act in an effective
manner. Indeed, until the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union
in the late 1980s, the UN was often unable to make decisions at all,
particularly when the United States and the Soviet Union were in disagreement.
During the 1980s, the United States even refused to pay its full share of
membership fees, because it opposed UN policies.
As the nations of the world come to increasingly appreciate
the global nature of the problems they confront, the United Nations may become
more important as a global organization. While competing interests among
powerful member nations make it unlikely that it will become the sort of
"world government” some of its founders envisioned, the United Nations may
continue to acquire increased authority for making and enforcing decisions in
the years to come.
IGOs can wield considerable power, provided that their
member nations can agree to take action. Yet since nations ultimately control
the use of military force, there are limits to the authority of even the most
powerful IGOs, whose strength derives from the voluntary compliance of their
member nations. The United Nations, for example, is entirely dependent on its
members for finances and military power. Even though the UN has
180 member nations and a large number of important economic,
cultural, and social programs, its political power is limited.
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