The United Nations: A history of success and failure

The world is less peaceful than it was a decade ago. Economic instability is on the rise and a global recession is in the offing. The process of post-Cold War democratisation is now running in reverse across the globe. Climate change is reaping devastating impacts. Conflicts in Kashmir, Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, and Afghanistan continue to rage; while new conflicts are bubbling to the surface.

Yet while global problems continue to mount, the problem-solving capacity of our politics continues to decline. Generally, national governments appear to lack the fortitude to embrace imaginative and far-reaching solutions. Multilateralism–the idea of governments working cooperatively–has stalled.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold

The United Nations (UN)–the bastion of the post-war global order–is seemingly overwhelmed. A clear-eyed assessment of the organisation might conclude the following: it is unfit to solve many of our present problems, let alone the problems looming on the horizon. This article seeks to investigate the record of the organisation and draw some conclusions about the UN’s performance in the 21st Century.

The UN is in the business of improving the lives of people through advancing the sustainable development agenda, addressing climate change, and delivering humanitarian relief.

What is the UN’s purpose?

The founders saw the UN as the heart of international economic and political relations–an organisation with the power and capacity to solve the world’s most