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OVERVIEWIn this chapter we shall discussthe role of internationalorganisations after the collapse ofthe Soviet Union. We shallexamine how, in this emergingworld, there were calls for therestructuring of internationalorganisations to cope with variousnew challenges including the riseof US power. The potential reformof the United Nations SecurityCouncil is an interesting case ofthe reform process and itsdifficulties. We then turn to India’sinvolvement in the UN and its viewof Security Council reforms. Thechapter closes by asking if the UNcan play any role in dealing witha world dominated by onesuperpower. In this chapter wealso look at some other trans-national organisations that areplaying a crucial role.

Chapter 6

International Organisations

This is the United Nations’ logo. The emblem has a world mapwith olive branches around it, signifying world peace.Credit : www.un.org

Contemporary World Politics82

WHY INTERNATIONAL

ORGANISATIONS?Read the two cartoons on thispage. Both the cartoons commenton the ineffectiveness of theUnited Nations Organisation,usually referred to as the UN, inthe Lebanon crisis in 2006. Boththe cartoons represent the kind ofopinions that we often hear aboutthe UN.

On the other hand, we alsofind that the UN is generallyregarded as the most importantinternational organisation intoday’s world. In the eyes of manypeople all over the world, it isindispensable and represents thegreat hope of humanity for peaceand progress. Why do we thenneed organisations like the UN?Let us hear two insiders:

“The United Nations was notcreated to take humanity toheaven, but to save it from hell.”— Dag Hammarskjold, the UN’ssecond Secretary-General.

“Talking shop? Yes, there area lot of speeches and meetings atthe U.N., especially during theannual sessions of the GeneralAssembly. But as Churchill put it,jaw-jaw is better than war-war.Isn’t it better to have one placewhere all… countries in the worldcan get together, bore each othersometimes with their words ratherthan bore holes into each other onthe battlefield?” — Shashi Tharoor,

the former UN Under-Secretary-

General for Communications and

Public Information.

These two quotes suggestsomething important. Internationalorganisations are not the answerto everything, but they areimportant. International organi-sations help with matters of warand peace. They also helpcountries cooperate to makebetter living conditions for us all.

Countries have conflicts anddifferences with each other. Thatdoes not necessarily mean theymust go to war to deal with their

That’s what they sayabout theparliament too —a talking shop. Doesit mean that weneed talking shops?

During June 2006, Israel attacked Lebanon, saying that it was necessary to control the militant group called Hezbollah.Large numbers of civilians were killed and many public buildings and even residential areas came under Israelibombardment. The UN passed a resolution on this only in August and the Israel army withdrew from the region only inOctober. Both these cartoons comment on the role of the UN and its Secretary-General in this episode.

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International Organisations 83

antagonisms. They can, instead,discuss contentious issues andfind peaceful solutions; indeed,even though this is rarely noticed,most conflicts and differences areresolved without going to war. Therole of an internationalorganisation can be important inthis context. An internationalorganisation is not a super-statewith authority over its members.It is created by and responds tostates. It comes into being whenstates agree to its creation. Oncecreated, it can help member statesresolve their problems peacefully.

International organisationsare helpful in another way.Nations can usually see that thereare some things they must dotogether. There are issues that areso challenging that they can onlybe dealt with when everyoneworks together. Disease is anexample. Some diseases can onlybe eradicated if everyone in theworld cooperates in inoculating orvaccinating their populations. Ortake global warming andits effects. As atmospherictemperatures rise because of thespread of certain chemicals calledchlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), thereis a danger that sea levels will alsorise, thereby submerging manycoastal areas of the worldincluding huge cities. Of course,each country can try to find itsown solution to the effects ofglobal warming. But in the end amore effective approach is to stopthe warming itself. This requiresat least all of the major industrialpowers to cooperate.

Unfortunately, recognising theneed for cooperation and actuallycooperating are two differentthings. Nations can recognise theneed to cooperate but cannotalways agree on how best to do so,how to share the costs ofcooperating, how to make surethat the benefits of cooperating arejustly divided, and how to ensurethat others do not break their endof the bargain and cheat on anagreement. An internationalorganisation can help produceinformation and ideas about howto cooperate. It can providemechanisms, rules and abureaucracy, to help members havemore confidence that costs will beshared properly, that the benefits

Make a list of issues orproblems (other than theones mentioned in thetext) that cannot behandled by any onecountry and require aninternational organisation.

IMF

IMFThe International Monetary Fund(IMF) is an international organ-isation that oversees thosefinancial institutions and regula-tions that act at the internationallevel. The IMF has 184 members countries, butthey do not enjoy an equal say. The top tencountries have 55 per cent of the votes. Theyare the G-8 members (the US, Japan, Germany,France, the UK, Italy, Canada and Russia), SaudiArabia and China. The US alone has 17.4 percent voting rights.


will be fairly divided, and that oncea member joins an agreement itwill honour the terms andconditions of the agreement.

With the end of the Cold War,we can see that the UN may havea slightly different role. As theUnited States and its alliesemerged victorious, there wasconcern amongst manygovernments and peoples that theWestern countries led by the USwould be so powerful that therewould be no check against theirwishes and desires. Can the UNserve to promote dialogue anddiscussion with the US inparticular, and could it limit thepower of the American

government? We shall try toanswer this question at the endof the chapter.

EVOLUTION OF THE UNThe First World War encouragedthe world to invest in aninternational organisation to dealwith conflict. Many believed thatsuch an organisation would helpthe world to avoid war. As a result,the League of Nations was born.However, despite its initialsuccess, it could not prevent theSecond World War (1939-45).Many more people died and werewounded in this war than everbefore.

The UN was founded as asuccessor to the League ofNations. It was established in1945 immediately after the

1941August: Signing of the Atlantic Charter by the US PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt and British PM Winston S. Churchill

1942 January: 26 Allied nations fighting against the AxisPowers meet in Washington, D.C., to support the AtlanticCharter and sign the ‘Declaration by United Nations’

1943 December: Tehran Conference Declaration of theThree Powers (US, Britain and Soviet Union)

1945 February: Yalta Conference of the ‘Big Three’(Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin) decides to organise a UnitedNations conference on the proposed world organisation

April-May: The 2-month long United Nations Conference onInternational Organisation at San Francisco

1945 June 26: Signing of the UN Charter by 50 nations(Poland signed on October 15; so the UN has 51 originalfounding members)

1945 October 24: the UN was founded (hence October 24 iscelebrated as UN Day)

1945 October 30: India joins the UN

The US Office of War Informationcreated the above poster during theSecond World War as per theDeclaration by United Nations of 1942.The poster features the flags of allnations that were part of the AlliedForces. It reflects the belligerent originsof the UN.

FOUNDING OF THE UNITED NATIONS


Adapted from http://www.newint.org/issue375/pics/un-map-big.gif


Second World War. Theorganisation was set up throughthe signing of the United NationsCharter by 51 states. It tried toachieve what the League could notbetween the two world wars. TheUN’s objective is to preventinternational conflict and tofacilitate cooperation amongstates. It was founded with thehope that it would act to stop theconflicts between states escalatinginto war and, if war broke out, tolimit the extent of hostilities.Furthermore, since conflicts oftenarose from the lack of social andeconomic development, the UNwas intended to bring countriestogether to improve the prospectsof social and economicdevelopment all over the world.

By 2006, the UN had 192member states. These includeedalmost all independent states. Inthe UN General Assembly, allmembers have one vote each. Inthe UN Security Council, there arefive permanent members. Theseare: the United States, Russia, theUnited Kingdom, France andChina. These states were selectedas permanent members as theywere the most powerfulimmediately after the SecondWorld War and because theyconstituted the victors in the War.

The UN’s most visible publicfigure, and the representativehead, is the Secretary-General.The present Secretary-General isBan Ki-Moon from South Korea.He is the eighth Secretary-Generalof the UN. He took over as theSecretary-General on 1 January

2007. He is the first Asian to holdthe post since 1971.

The UN consists of manydifferent structures and agencies.War and peace and differencesbetween member states arediscussed in the GeneralAssembly as well as the SecurityCouncil. Social and economicissues are dealt with by manyagencies including the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO), theUnited Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP), the UnitedNations Human Rights Commision(UNHRC), the United Nations HighCommission for Refugees (UNHCR),the United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF), and the United NationsEducational, Scientific, andCultural Organisation (UNESCO),among others.

REFORM OF THE UN AFTER

THE COLD WAR

Reform and improvement arefundamental to any organisationto serve the needs of a changingenvironment. The UN is noexception. In recent years, therehave been demands for reform ofthe world body. However, there islittle clarity and consensus on thenature of reform.

Two basic kinds of reformsface the UN: reform of theorganisation’s structures andprocesses; and a review of theissues that fall within thejurisdiction of the organisation.Almost everyone is agreed thatboth aspects of reform are

Cold War or noCold War, onereform is neededabove all. Onlydemocratic leadersshould be allowedto represent theircountries in the UN.How can they allowdictators to speak inthe name of thepeople of theircountry?

Search for atleast one newsitem about theactivities ofeach of theUN agenciesmentioned onthis page.


necessary. What they cannot agreeon is precisely what is to be done,how it is to be done, and when it isto be done.

On the reform of structuresand processes, the biggestdiscussion has been on thefunctioning of the SecurityCouncil. Related to this has beenthe demand for an increase in theUN Security Council’s permamentand non-permanent membershipso that the realities ofcontemporary world politics arebetter reflected in the structure ofthe organisation. In particular,there are proposals to increasemembership from Asia, Africa andSouth America. Beyond this, theUS and other Western countrieswant improvements in the UN’sbudgetary procedures and itsadministration.

On the issues to be given greaterpriority or to be brought within thejurisdiciton of the UN, somecountries and experts want theorganisation to play a greater ormore effective role in peace andsecurity missions, while otherswant its role to be confined todevelopment and humanitarianwork (health, education,environment, population control,human rights, gender and socialjustice).

Let us look at both sets ofreforms, with an emphasis onreform of the structures andprocesses.

The UN was established in1945 immediately after theSecond World War. The way it was

Trygve Lie(1946-1952) Norway; lawyer andforeign minister; worked for ceasefirebetween India and Pakistan on Kashmir;criticised for his failure to quickly end theKorean war; Soviet Union opposed secondterm for him; resigned from the post.

Dag Hammarskjöld(1953-1961) Sweden;Economist and lawyer; worked for resolvingthe Suez Canal dispute and thedecolonisation of Africa; awarded NobelPeace Prize posthumously in 1961 for hisefforts to settle the Congo crisis; Soviet Unionand France criticised his role in Africa.

U Thant(1961-1971) Burma (Myanmar);teacher and diplomat; worked for resolvingthe Cuban Missile Crisis and ending theCongo crisis; established the UNPeacekeeping Force in Cyprus; criticisedthe US during the Vietnam War.

Kurt Waldheim(1972-1981) Austria; diplomatand foreign minister; made efforts to resolvethe problems of Namibia and Lebanon;oversaw the relief operation in Bangladesh;China blocked his bid for a third term.

Javier Perez de Cuellar(1982-1991) Peru;lawyer and diplomat; worked for peace inCyprus, Afghanistan and El Salvador;mediated between Britain and Argentinaafter the Falklands War; negotiated for theindependence of Namibia.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali(1992-1996) Egypt;diplomat, jurist, foreign minister; issued areport, An Agenda for Peace; conducteda successful UN operation in Mozambique;blamed for the UN failures in Bosnia, Somaliaand Rwanda; due to serious disagreements,the US blocked a second term for him.

Kofi A. Annan (1997-2006) Ghana; UNofficial; created the Global Fund to fightAIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; declaredthe US-led invasion of Iraq as an illegal act;established the Peacebuilding Commissionand the Human Rights Council in 2005;awarded the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize

Photo Credit: www.un.org

UN SECRETARIES-GENERAL


organised and the way itfunctioned reflected the realities ofworld politics after the SecondWorld War. After the Cold War,those realities are different. Hereare some of the changes that haveoccurred:

The Soviet Union hascollapsed.

The US is the strongest power.

The relationship betweenRussia, the successor to theSoviet Union, and the US ismuch more cooperative.

China is fast emerging as agreat power, and India also isgrowing rapidly.

The economies of Asia aregrowing at an unprecedentedrate.

Many new countries havejoined the UN (as they becameindependent from the SovietUnion or former communiststates in eastern Europe).

A whole new set of challengesconfronts the world (genocide,civil war, ethnic conflict,

terrorism, nuclear proliferation,climate change, environmentaldegradation, epidemics).

In this situation, in 1989, asthe Cold War was ending, thequestion facing the world was: isthe UN doing enough? Is itequipped to do what is required?What should it be doing? Andhow? What reforms are necessaryto make it work better? For thepast decade and a half, memberstates have been trying to findsatisfactory and practical answersto these questions.

REFORM OF STRUCTURES AND

PROCESSES

While the case for reform haswidespread support, gettingagreement on what to do isdifficult. Let us examine thedebate over reform of the UNSecurity Council. In 1992, the UNGeneral Assembly adopted aresolution. The resolutionreflected three main complaints:

The Security Council no longerrepresents contemporarypolitical realities.

Its decisions reflect onlyWestern values and interestsand are dominated by a fewpowers.

It lacks equitable representation.

In view of these growingdemands for the restructuring ofthe UN, on 1 January 1997, theUN Secretary-General Kofi Annaninitiated an inquiry into how the

UN60: A Time for Renewal Credit: www.un.org


UN should be reformed. How, forinstance, should new SecurityCouncil members be chosen?

In the years since then, thefollowing are just some of thecriteria that have been proposedfor new permanent and non-permanent members of theSecurity Council. A new member,it has been suggested, should be:

A major economic power

A major military power

A substantial contributor tothe UN budget

A big nation in terms of itspopulation

A nation that respectsdemocracy and human rights

A country that wouldmake the Council morerepresentative of the world’sdiversity in terms ofgeography, economic systems,and culture

Clearly, each of these criteriahas some validity. Governmentssaw advantages in some criteriaand disadvantages in othersdepending on their interests andaspirations. Even if they had nodesire to be members themselves,countries could see that thecriteria were problematic. How bigan economic or military power didyou have to be to qualify forSecurity Council membership?What level of budget contributionwould enable a state to buy its wayinto the Council? Was a bigpopulation an asset or a liabilityfor a country trying to play a biggerrole in the world? If respect fordemocracy and human rights wasthe criteria, countries withexcellent records would be in lineto be members; but would they beeffective as Council members?

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World BankThe World Bank was createdimmediately after the SecondWorld War in 1945. Its activitiesare focused on the developingcountries. It works for humandevelopment (education, health), agricultureand rural development (irrigation, rural services),environmental protection (pollution reduction,establishing and enforcing regulations),infrastructure (roads, urban regeneration,electricity) and governance (anti-corruption,development of legal institutions). It providesloans and grants to the member-countries. Inthis way, it exercises enormous influence on theeconomic policies of developing countries. It isoften criticised for setting the economicagenda of the poorer nations, attachingstringent conditions to its loans and forcing freemarket reforms.


Furthermore, how was thematter of representation to beresolved? Did equitablerepresentation in geographicalterms mean that there should beone seat each from Asia, Africa,and Latin America and theCaribbean? Should therepresentation, on the other hand,be by regions or sub-regions(rather than continents)? Whyshould the issue of equitablerepresentation be decided bygeography? Why not by levels ofeconomic development? Why not,in other words, give more seats to

members of the developing world?Even here, there are difficulties.The developing world consists ofcountries at many different levelsof development. What aboutculture? Should different culturesor ‘civilisations’ be givenrepresentation in a more balancedway? How does one divide theworld by civilisations or culturesgiven that nations have so manycultural streams within theirborders?

A related issue was to changethe nature of membershipaltogether. Some insisted, forinstance, that the veto power ofthe five permanent members beabolished. Many perceived theveto to be in conflict with theconcept of democracy andsovereign equality in the UN andthought that the veto was nolonger right or relevant.

In the Security Council, thereare five permanent members andten non-permanent members. TheCharter gave the permanentmembers a privileged position tobring about stability in the worldafter the Second World War. Themain privileges of the fivepermanent members arepermanency and the veto power.The non-permanent membersserve for only two years at a timeand give way after that period tonewly elected members. A countrycannot be re-elected immediatelyafter completing a term of twoyears. The non-permanentmembers are elected in a mannerso that they represent allcontinents of the world.

STEPSDivide the class into six groups. Each group is tofollow one of the six criteria (or more if there aremore suggestions) listed here for permanentmembership of the UN Security Council.Each group is to make its own list of thepermanent members based on its givencriterion (e.g. the group working on the‘population’ criterion will find out the which arefive most populous countries).

Each group can make a presentation of theirrecommended list and reasons why theircriterion should be accepted.

Ideas for the Teacher

Allow the students to opt for the group whose criterion theythemselves favour.

Compare all the lists and see how many names arecommon and how often India features.

Keep some time for an open ended discussion on whichcriterion should be adopted.


Most importantly, the non-permanent members do not havethe veto power. What is the vetopower? In taking decisions, theSecurity Council proceeds byvoting. All members have one vote.However, the permanent memberscan vote in a negative manner sothat even if all other permanentand non-permanent membersvote for a particular decision, anypermanent member’s negativevote can stall the decision. Thisnegative vote is the veto.

While there has been a moveto abolish or modify the vetosystem, there is also a realisationthat the permanent members areunlikely to agree to such a reform.Also, the world may not be readyfor such a radical step eventhough the Cold War is over.Without the veto, there is thedanger as in 1945 that the greatpowers would lose interest in theworld body, that they would dowhat they pleased outside it, andthat without their support andinvolvement the body would beineffective.

That’s very unfair! It’sactually the weakercountries who needa veto, not thosewho already have somuch power.

JURISDICTION OF THE UNThe question of membership is aserious one. In addition, though,there are more substantial issuesbefore the world. As the UNcompleted 60 years of itsexistence, the heads of all themember-states met in September2005 to celebrate the anniversaryand review the situation. Theleaders in this meeting decidedthat the following steps should betaken to make the UN morerelevant in the changing context.

Creation of a PeacebuildingCommission

Acceptance of the responsibilityof the international communityin case of failures of nationalgovernments to protect theirown citizens from atrocities

Establishment of a HumanRights Council (operationalsince 19 June 2006)

Agreements to achieve theMillennium DevelopmentGoals

Condemnation of terrorism inall its forms and manifestations

Creation of a Democracy Fund

An agreement to wind up theTrusteeship Council

It is not hard to see that theseare equally contentious issues forthe UN. What should aPeacebuilding Commission do?There are any number of conflictsall over the world. Which onesshould it intervene in? Is it possibleor even desirable for it to intervene

What aretheMillenniumDevelopmentGoals?


in each and every conflict?Similarly, what is the responsibilityof the international community indealing with atrocities? What arehuman rights and who shoulddetermine the level of humanrights violations and the course ofaction to be taken when they areviolated? Given that so manycountries are still part of thedeveloping world, how realistic isit for the UN to achieve anambitious set of goals such asthose listed in the MillenniumDevelopment Goals? Can there beagreement on a definition ofterrorism? How shall the UN usefunds to promote democracy? Andso on.

The humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan since 2003 hasattracted empty promises by the International Community.How do you think the UN can intervene in situations like this?Would that require a change in its jurisdiction?

Adapted from http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/maplib/flag.html. Should the UN increase its peacekeepingactivities? Place a star on the parts of the world where you would like to see the UN peacekeeping forces.

MAP OF UN PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS

MISSIONS ADMINISTERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS

WesternSahara 1991-

Haiti2004-

DR Congo1999-

Burundi2004-

Afghanistan*2002-

SierraLeone*2006- Israel and

Syria 1974-

Cyprus 1964- Lebanon 1978-

India andPakistan1949-

Sudan 2005-

Kosovo 1999-Georgia1993-

Liberia2003-

Côte d'Ivoire2004-

Ethiopia andEritrea 2000-

MiddleEast 1948-

East Timor2006-

* political or peacebuilding mission

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INDIA AND THE UN REFORMS

India has supported therestructuring of the UN on severalgrounds. It believes that astrengthened and revitalised UN isdesirable in a changing world.India also supports an enhancedrole for the UN in promotingdevelopment and cooperationamong states. India believes thatdevelopment should be central tothe UN’s agenda as it is a vitalprecondition for the maintenanceof international peace and security.

One of India’s major concernshas been the composition of theSecurity Council, which hasremained largely static while theUN General Assembly member-ship has expanded considerably.India considers that this hasharmed the representativecharacter of the Security Council.It also argues that an expandedCouncil, with more representation,will enjoy greater support in theworld community.

We should keep in mind thatthe membership of the UNSecurity Council was expandedfrom 11 to 15 in 1965. But, therewas no change in the number ofpermanent members. Since then,the size of the Council hasremained stationary. The factremains that the overwhelmingmajority of the UN GeneralAssembly members now aredeveloping countries. Therefore,India argues that they should alsohave a role in shaping thedecisions in the Security Councilwhich affect them.

India supports an increase inthe number of both permanentand non-permanent members. Itsrepresentatives have argued thatthe activities of the SecurityCouncil have greatly expanded inthe past few years. The success ofthe Security Council’s actionsdepends upon the politicalsupport of the internationalcommunity. Any plan forrestructuring of the SecurityCouncil should, therefore, bebroad-based. For example, theSecurity Council should havemore developing countries in it.

Not surprisingly, India itselfalso wishes to be a permanentmember in a restructured UN.India is the second most populouscountry in the world comprisingalmost one-fifth of the worldpopulation. Moreover, India is alsothe world’s largest democracy.India has participated in virtuallyall of the initiatives of the UN. Itsrole in the UN’s peacekeeping

WTOThe World Trade Organisation(WTO) is an internationalorganisation which sets the rulesfor global trade. This organisationwas set up in 1995 as thesuccessor to the General Agreement on Tradeand Tariffs (GATT) created after the SecondWorld War. It has 150 members. All decisions aretaken unanimously but the major economicpowers such as the US, EU and Japan havemanaged to use the WTO to frame rules of tradeto advance their own interests. The developingcountries often complain of non-transparentprocedures and being pushed around by bigpowers.W

TO

Do we want tooppose the bossismof the big five or dowe want to join themand becomeanother boss?


efforts is a long and substantialone. The country’s economicemergence on the world stage isanother factor that perhapsjustifies India’s claim to apermanent seat in the SecurityCouncil. India has also maderegular financial contributions tothe UN and never faltered on itspayments. India is aware thatpermanent membership of theSecurity Council also hassymbolic importance. It signifiesa country’s growing importance inworld affairs. This greater statusis an advantage to a country inthe conduct of its foreign policy:the reputation for being powerfulmakes you more influential.

Despite India’s wish to be apermanent veto-wielding memberof the UN, some countriesquestion its inclusion.Neighbouring Pakistan, withwhich India has troubledrelations, is not the only countrythat is reluctant to see Indiabecome a permanent veto memberof the Security Council. Somecountries, for instance, areconcerned about India’s nuclearweapons capabilities. Others

think that its difficulties withPakistan will make Indiaineffective as a permanentmember. Yet others feel that ifIndia is included, then otheremerging powers will have to beaccommodated such as Brazil,Germany, Japan, perhaps evenSouth Africa, whom they oppose.There are those who feel thatAfrica and South America must berepresented in any expansion ofthe permanent membership sincethose are the only continents notto have representation in thepresent structure. Given theseconcerns, it may not be very easyfor India or anyone else to becomea permanent member of the UN inthe near future.

THE UN IN A UNIPOLAR

WORLD

Among the concerns about thereform and restructuring of theUN has been the hope of somecountries that changes could helpthe UN cope better with a unipolarword in which the US was themost powerful country withoutany serious rivals. Can the UNserve as a balance against USdominance? Can it help maintaina dialogue between the rest of theworld and the US and preventAmerica from doing whatever itwants?

US power cannot be easilychecked. First of all, with thedisappearance of the SovietUnion, the US stands as the onlysuperpower. Its military andeconomic power allow it to ignore

What happens if theUN invites someoneto New York but theUS does not issuevisa?

IAEAThe International Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA) was established in1957. It came into being toimplement US President DwightEisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace”proposal. It seeks to promote the peaceful use ofnuclear energy and to prevent its use for militarypurposes. IAEA teams regularly inspect nuclearfacilities all over the world to ensure that civilianreactors are not being used for military purposes.IA

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the UN or any other internationalorganisation.

Secondly, within the UN, theinfluence of the US isconsiderable. As the single largestcontributor to the UN, the US hasunmatched financial power. Thefact that the UN is physicallylocated within the US territorygives Washington additionalsources of influence. The US alsohas many nationals in the UNbureaucracy. In addition, with itsveto power the US can stop anymoves that it finds annoying ordamaging to its interests or theinterests of its friends and allies.The power of the US and its vetowithin the organisation alsoensure that Washington has aconsiderable degree of say in thechoice of the Secretary General ofthe UN. The US can and does usethis power to “split” the rest of theworld and to reduce opposition toits policies.

The UN is not therefore a greatbalance to the US. Nevertheless,in a unipolar world in which theUS is dominant, the UN can andhas served to bring the US andthe rest of the world intodiscussions over various issues.US leaders, in spite of theirfrequent criticism of the UN, dosee the organisation as serving apurpose in bringing together over190 nations in dealing withconflict and social and economicdevelopment. As for the rest of theworld, the UN provides an arenain which it is possible to modifyUS attitudes and policies. Whilethe rest of the world is rarely

AmnestyInternationalAmnesty International is an NGOthat campaigns for theprotection of human rights allover the world. It promotesrespect for all the human rights in the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights. It believes thathuman rights are interdependent and indivisible.It prepares and publishes reports on human rights.Governments are not always happy with thesereports since a major focus of Amnesty is themisconduct of government authorities.Nevertheless, these reports play an important rolein research and advocacy on human rights.A

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united against Washington, andwhile it is virtually impossible to“balance” US power, the UN doesprovide a space within whicharguments against specific USattitudes and policies are heardand compromises andconcessions can be shaped.

Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is anotherinternational NGO involved inresearch and advocacy onhuman rights. It is the largestinternational human rightsorganisation in the US. It draws the global media’sattention to human rights abuses. It helped inbuilding international coalitions like thecampaigns to ban landmines, to stop the use ofchild soldiers and to establish the InternationalCriminal Court.HU

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H The UN is an imperfect body,but without it the world would beworse off. Given the growingconnections and links betweensocieties and issues—what weoften call ‘interdependence’—it ishard to imagine how more thanseven billion people would livetogether without an organisationsuch as the UN. Technologypromises to increase planetaryinterdependence, and thereforethe importance of the UN will onlyincrease. Peoples and govern-ments will have to find ways ofsupporting and using the UN andother international organisationsin ways that are consistent withtheir own interests and theinterests of the internationalcommunity more broadly.

1. Mark correct or wrong against each of the following statementsbelow about the veto power.

a. Only the permanent members of the Security Council possessthe veto power.

b. It’s a kind of negative power.c. The Secretary-General uses this power when not satisfied with

any decision.d. One veto can stall a Security Council resolution.

2. Mark correct or wrong against each of the following statementsbelow that describe the way the UN functions.

a. All security and peace related issues are dealt with in theSecurity Council.

b. Humanitarian policies are implemented by the main organsand specialised agencies spread across the globe.

c. Having consensus among the five permanent members onsecurity issues is vital for its implementation.

d. The members of the General Assembly are automatically themembers of all other principal organs and specialised agenciesof the UN.E

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3. Which among the following would give more weightage to India’sproposal for permanent membership in the Security Council?

a. Nuclear capabilityb. It has been a member of the UN since its inceptionc. It is located in Asiad. India’s growing economic power and stable political system

4. The UN agency concerned with the safety and peaceful use ofnuclear technology is:

a. The UN Committee on Disarmamentb. International Atomic Energy Agencyc. UN International Safeguard Committeed. None of the above

5. WTO is serving as the successor to which of the followingorganisations

a. General Agreement on Trade and Tariffsb. General Arrangement on Trade and Tariffsc. World Health Organisationd. UN Development Programme

6. Fill in the blanks.

a. The prime objective of the UN is ___________________________b. The highest functionary of the UN is called_________________c. The UN Security Council has _____ permanent and _____non-

permanent members.d. ______________________ is the present UN Secretary-General.

7. Match the principal organs and agencies of the UN with theirfunctions:

1. Economic and Social Council2. International Court of Justice3. International Atomic Energy Agency4. Security Council5. UN High Commission for Refugees6. World Trade Organisation7. International Monetary Fund8. General Assembly9. World Health Organisation10. Secretariat

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a. Oversees the global financial systemb. Preservation of international peace and securityc. Looks into the economic and social welfare of the member

countriesd. Safety and peaceful use of nuclear technologye. Resolves disputes between and among member countriesf. Provides shelter and medical help during emergenciesg. Debates and discusses global issuesh. Administration and coordination of UN affairsi. Providing good health for allj. Facilitates free trade among member countries

8. What are the functions of the Security Council?

9. As a citizen of India, how would you support India’s candidature forthe permanent membership of the Security Council? Justify yourproposal.

10. Critically evaluate the difficulties involved in implementing thesuggested reforms to reconstruct the UN.

11. Though the UN has failed in preventing wars and related miseries,nations prefer its continuation. What makes the UN an indispensableorganisation?

12. ‘Reforming the UN means restructuring of the Security Council’. Doyou agree with this statement? Give arguments for or against thisposition.

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