Intro on the United nations Flashcards
History of the UN
-After WW1, the League of Nations failed to provide stability over the great power regions.
-After WW2-1945- Start of the hope to keep peace.
How do anarchy & sovereignty limit the power of the UN?
-Soverughty limits the capability of the UN.
-Anarchy creates a function where all actions of states act for mutual benefit, hard to cooperate or discuss for peace.
Purpose of the UN?
-international security affairs.
(The closest thing to world government).
-Global institutional with less reliance on force.
Who are the members of the UN?
sovereign states
What does the UN acknowledge?
1) Achnolowedge reality of the international anarchy.
2) Unwillingness of states to surrender their sovereignty.
What book/law does the UN follow and explain its principles?
-The UN Charter: states are equal under international law.
Principles:
- Respecting diplomatic privileges
-Refraining from committing aggression.
-Observing the terms of the treaties.
Benefits from the UN:
1) International stabliity
2) Acts as a Safeguard
3) Symbol of global identity.
4) A forum/mechanism for conflict resolutions (security).
4) peacekeeping & coordinating information.
True or false: Sometimes the UN succeeds and sometimes it fails
True
What problems do the states turn to the UN?
Ethnic, human rights, refugees, and world hunger, in hopes it can take care of them.
What problem does the UN focus on the most?
Poverty
What’s the structure of the UN?
1) General assembly
2) ECO SOC
3) Security Council
4) ICJ world court
5) Trusteeship council (suspended in 1944)
All this is headed by the secretariat general.
Why did the Trusteeship Council suspend in 1944?
Transitioned from colonies to sovereign nations.
What role does the UN have?
Universal membership: Internationally recognized, members of mostly all states.
Laws and rules the UN and its members have to follow.
UN charter.
Where are the Headquarters of the UN located?
Headquarters in New York City.
League of nations vs United nations.
1) League of Nations: Absence of important powerful actors;
- to make the great actors join they gave them
Veto power.
-Ensured their interest and security. (National interest won’t be harmed).
2) United Nations: All great actors involved, and mostly all states.
A term that we use, is where states work together to prevent wars and any conflicts.
Collective security.
Chapter 6?
Peaceful, negotiations, non-violence, collaborations, and communication. (Liberalism pov)
Chapter 7
If Chapter 6 fails, the UN Security Council calls for the use of military force against aggression. But if any great powers call for a veto, whole negotiations fail.
What is the UN General Assembly?
Representatives of all states sit together in a huge room: speeches, resolutions, and development programs.
Adminitration of the UN takes place through and is led by the sec.gen.
UN secretariat.
What did the World Court oversee?
The transition of colonial territories to full independence.
A major strength of the UN is the Universality of its members. How?
Virtually every territory in the world is either a UN member or province or colony of the UN member.
Ambassadors from each state work and meet at the UN headquarters.
National delegations.
Give an example of when chapter 7 was used.
Cold war (Korean war)
What is the difference between ICC and ICJ?
ICC: Indivuals.
ICJ: States
Why did the US join the UN?
reasons through the lens of realism and liberalism.
1)Realism: Self-interest, ensuring security, alliances, self-help system.
2) Liberalism: Cooperation, the world is not interdependent meaning the state will lose more than gain if it does not join the UN, as not mostly all members are in the UN.
During the 50s and 60s, what happened? And what did they join?
-Decolonization: ( Gained their independence)
-States started to become part of the UN.
During the Cold War, what happened?
Bipolar world, where the US was rivals with the USSR, each had its supporters, The UN had a few consensus (general agreement), but nothing was passing, and there was no agreement.
What did the new members/ 3rd world countries criticize?
Criticized the rich countries, and the UN’s support is towards them more than the other states.
UN had problems? (After the Cold Car)
1) No funding (required a lot of money).
2) Management problems.
UN 3 pillars:
1) Security
2) Economic development
3) Human rights
history of the UN?
Founded in 1945 by 51 states, successor to the League of Nations. Found to increase international order and the rule of law to prevent another world war.
UN & US tension
To ensure that the US (one of the great powers) joined the UN, the UN headquarters was moved to New York.
Things that happened between 1950 and 1960 (summary of points above)
1) UNS membership more than doubled colonies in Asia and Africa.
2) Each state has one vote regardless of size.
3) The new members believed that the UN was prioritizing US security affairs when their interests were at stake.
UN achievements
Appeared irrelevant in a world structure of 2 alliances, but its main work was economic and social problems in the poor countries.
BY 1990s
1) Great powers agreed on measures including international security: ending violent regional conflict, introducing peacekeepers, and security council resolutions.
2) Un emerged as the world’s most important tool for settling conflicts.
What is the purpose of the Security Council?
-Maintaining international peace and security or restoring peace when it breaks down.
-Solving various security disputes
Has a huge amount of power to:
1) Define economic and social development
2) Structure the response
3) Infroce its decesions.
Who are the arms control?
Controlling the weapons.
Huge powers involved in the security council help with…
1) Navigate the system and identify any threats.
2) All huge powers involved, help with them not clashing or fighting with each other, sense that they all have the same level of power.
Who are the members of the Security Council?
Permanent 5:
1) China
2) Russia
3: France
4) UK (Britain)
5) US
+ 10 rotating members ( 5 new mebers elected each year).
What do the 5 permanent members have that the 10 rotating members don’t?
Veto power: if one great power (p5) disagrees with the resolution, the whole decision fails.
What does it take for the voting to pass?
all p5 to agree + 9 states.
Votes
Yes, no, or Abstain (usually used when they don’t want to interfere with the problem, that will affect them in the long run).
What does the Security Council try to do when nominating the 10 rotating states?
To nominate a state in each region, major regional actors tend to rotate onto the council more often.
How does the world view the Security Council?
911 call
Security Council is limited? How?
1) The council’s decision depends on its interest in the states.
2) Bining in theory, practice often tries to evade or soften.
what does the resolution act as? And how does the Security Council use military force?
1) Acts like an outline of what the states should do.
2) Military force to respond to aggression, operates under the state’s control, but through the council’s command.
Who are the rotating states elected by?
General assembly, prepared by informal regional caucuses. (Usually a mix of regions and country size). The main focus is to Keep regional balance the major regional actors tend to rotate in the council more often.
How do countries try to win a seat?
1) Producing books
2) Advertisements
3) Memos
Extra notes:
1) Both reflect the strength of state sovereignty.
2) Decisions depend entirely on the interests of its members.
3) Security Council resolutions can be enforced in practice ONLY if enough powerful states care about it.
