Has the UN been a Successful International Organization after the end of the Cold War?
- PO-118 – Matthew Stevens
The United Nations was formed in the aftermath of the Second
World War with the explicit intent of preventing another global-scale conflict.
The course of the Cold War saw significant political restraint on the UN’s ability
to fulfil its objectives, as action could only be taken with support from both the
USA and USSR – this was a rare occurrence. The end of the Cold War allowed a resurgence in both the number of UN peacekeeping actions undertaken 1 and levels of support for the UN, 2 and has even been described as a renaissance for the organization. 3 However, debate has surfaced over whether the Un has actually been successful during this period. Peacekeeping missions, human rights enforcement, international cooperation and development 4 – these have
all come under scrutiny. This essay will argue that the UN has experienced mixed
success as an international organization in the post-Cold War world.
One way that the UN experienced mixed success was through many of its
significant peacekeeping operations. The collapse of the USSR in 1991, and its
replacement on the Permanent Security Council by the Russian Federation, led to a significant increase in the number of sanctioned peacekeeping missions. 5
These have been deployed in an array of locations for distinct reasons, and many
have fulfilled their objectives. For example, UN missions have acted as a strong
1 Chris Barrett, Should the UN Security Council Be Reformed? (York: University of York Press, 1996), p. 8 2 Barrett, p. 16 3 Joachim Muller, Reforming the United Nations: The Challenge of Working Together (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 2010), p. 8. 4 Carsten Staur and Steven Harris, Shared Responsibility: The United Nations in the Age of Globalization (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2013), p. 137 5 Paul Kennedy, The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations (New York: Random House, 2006), p. 91
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