The United Nations, the Cold War, and Its Legacy

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerd Hankel
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Member States ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Cold War

According to the Preamble of the Charter of the United Nations, the member states of this organization resolved ‘to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’ as well as to act in a way that demonstrates ‘faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person’. As demonstrated by the emergence and consolidation of the Cold War, the reality of the situation was very different. The two superpowers (USA and Soviet Union) pursued their own agendas based on their respective power politics. For the most part, the United Nations watched helplessly from the sidelines. The states were meticulous in their efforts to ensure that the United Nations was not allocated any powers that could have led to any appreciable infringement of their sovereignty.

Land of Blue Helmets

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Arab World ◽  
International Conflicts ◽  
Member States ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Political Mediation

Born in 1945, the United Nations (UN) came to life in the Arab world. It was there that the UN dealt with early diplomatic challenges that helped shape its institutions such as peacekeeping and political mediation. It was also there that the UN found itself trapped in, and sometimes part of, confounding geopolitical tensions in key international conflicts in the Cold War and post-Cold War periods, such as hostilities between Palestine and Iraq and between Libya and Syria. Much has changed over the past seven decades, but what has not changed is the central role played by the UN. This book's claim is that the UN is a constant site of struggle in the Arab world and equally that the Arab world serves as a location for the UN to define itself against the shifting politics of its age. Looking at the UN from the standpoint of the Arab world, this volume includes chapters on the potential and the problems of a UN that is framed by both the promises of its Charter and the contradictions of its member states.

The Development of the United Nations Law Concerning Peace-Keeping Operations

1992 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-281
Author(s):  
Robert Siekmann
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Central America ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
New Thinking ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Cold War

Especially as a consequence of the termination of the Cold War, the détente in the relations between East en West (Gorbachev's ‘new thinking’ in foreign policy matters) and, finally, the disappearance of the Soviet Union, the number of UN peace-keeping operations substantially increased in recent years. One could even speak of a ‘proliferation’. Until 1988 the number of operations was twelve (seven peace-keeping forces: UNEF ‘I’ and ‘II’, ONUC, UNHCYP, UNSF (West New Guinea), UNDOF AND UNIFIL; and five military observer missions: UNTSO, UNMOGIP, UNOGIL, UNYOM and UNIPOM). Now, three forces and seven observer missions can be added. The forces are MINURSO (West Sahara), UNTAC (Cambodia) and UNPROFOR (Yugoslavia); the observer groups: UNGOMAP (Afghanistan/Pakistan), UNIIMOG (Iran/Iraq), UNAVEM ‘I’ and ‘II’ (Angola), ONUCA (Central America), UNIKOM (Iraq/Kuwait) and ONUSAL (El Salvador). UNTAG (Namibia), which was established in 1978, could not become operational until 1989 as a result of the new political circumstances in the world. So, a total of twenty-three operations have been undertaken, of which almost fifty percent was established in the last five years, whereas the other half was the result of decisions taken by the United Nations in the preceding forty years (UNTSO dates back to 1949). In the meantime, some ‘classic’ operations are being continued (UNTSO, UNMOGIP, UNFICYP, UNDOF, and UNIFIL), whereas some ‘modern’ operations already have been terminated as planned (UNTAG, UNGOMAP, UNIIMOG, UNAVEM ‘I’ and ‘II’, and ONUCA). At the moment (July 1992) eleven operations are in action – the greatest number in the UN history ever.

The United Nations and International Security in the New Millennium

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 517-541
Author(s):  
W. Andy Knight
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
International Security ◽  
Human Security ◽  
The United States ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Cold War

AbstractThe end of the Cold War opened a window of opportunity for the United Nations to play a greater role in international security than it was allowed to play in the midst of the ideological conflict between the United States and the former Soviet Union. However, the expected "peace dividend" never materialized in the post-Cold War period. Instead, a number of civil conflicts erupted and new threats to security, particularly to human security, emerged. This chapter critically examines the evolution of the UN's role in addressing international security problems since 1945, including global terrorism. It also outlines recent attempts by the world body, through extension of its reach beyond the territorial constraints of sovereignty, to build sustained peace through preventive measures and protect human security globally.

Beyond Srebrenica and Haiti

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 588-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico Schrijver
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Member States ◽  
Fundamental Freedoms ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Cold War

Since the end of the Cold War, international organizations have frequently called upon their member States to respect the principles of good governance and international law. Increasingly, however, questions are raised concerning the behaviour of international organizations themselves and whether their own practice corresponds to what they expect from their member States. In other words: do organizations practise what they preach? Since many international organizations aim to promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, it is reasonable to consider the extent to which these organizations respect such rights and freedoms themselves. Given the immunity of the United Nations, this paper examines some alternative legal procedures for the settlement of claims against the United Nations, taking into consideration contemporary international principles in relation to access to court, due process and reparation. It concludes with a number of recommendations.

The United Nations and the United States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Getchell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
United Nations ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Policy ◽  
Wrong Side ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Cold War

The United States was heavily involved in creating the United Nations in 1945 and drafting its charter. The United States continued to exert substantial clout in the organization after its founding, though there have been periods during which U.S. officials have met with significant opposition inside the United Nations, in Congress, and in American electoral politics, all of which produced struggles to gain support for America’s international policy goals. U.S. influence in the international organization has thus waxed and waned. The early postwar years witnessed the zenith of American prestige on the global stage. Starting in the mid- to late 1950s, as decolonization and the establishment of newly independent nations quickened, the United States began to lose influence in the United Nations owing to the spreading perception that its alliances with the European colonial powers placed it on the wrong side of history. As U.N. membership skyrocketed, the organization became more responsive to the needs and interests of the decolonizing states. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the American public responded to declining U.S. influence in the United Nations with calls to defund the organization and to pursue a unilateral approach to international challenges. The role of the United States in the United Nations was shaped by the politics of the Cold War competition with the Soviet Union. Throughout the nearly five decades of the Cold War, the United Nations served as a forum for the political and ideological rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, which frequently inhibited the organization from fulfilling what most considered to be its primary mission: the maintenance of global security and stability. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the peaceful end of the Cold War, the United States enjoyed a brief period of unrivaled global hegemony. During this period, U.S. officials pursued a closer relationship with the United Nations and sought to use the organization to build support for its international policy agenda and military interventionism.

Part 2 The United Nations: What it is, 3 The Security Council

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Higgins Dame Rosalyn, DBE, QC ◽  
Webb Philippa ◽  
Akande Dapo ◽  
Sivakumaran Sandesh ◽  
Sloan James
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Member States ◽  
Primary Responsibility ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Cold War

The Security Council is unique among the principal organs of the UN in two important ways: member states agree to accept and carry out the decisions it takes in accordance with the UN Charter, and member states have conferred upon it primary responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security. It is also the most influential of the UN principal organs. Since the end of the Cold War the productiveness of the Security Council has increased dramatically. In the 1990s, it adopted an average of 64 resolutions a year. In 2016, it adopted 76 resolutions. This chapter discusses the Security Council’s membership, procedure, meetings, non-members, non-state entities, voting, presidency, and functions (oversight and peace and security).

The United Nations and Global Security: The Norm is Mightier than the Sword

1995 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 37-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael N. Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Architecture ◽  
Global Security ◽  
Member States ◽  
Cooperative Security ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Pragmatic Assessment ◽  
Security Affairs

Barnett argues that the United Nations, by operating on the principle of the consent of the parties, can encourage the development of a more stable and cooperative security architecture. The articulation and transmission of norms and the establishment of mechanisms can encourage transparency in interstate and internal matters. After the Cold War some entertained the possibility of increasing United Nations involvement in security affairs and making it a muscular security organization. Such visions, however, outstripped either what the United Nations was immediately capable of accomplishing or what the member states were willing to support. These developments demand a more pragmatic assessment of the United Nations to learn what it can do well, what it cannot do well, and how it can become more effective.

“In a Class by Itself”: Cold War Politics and Finland's Position vis-à-vis the United Nations, 1945–1956

2008 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norbert Götz
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
South Korea ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International System ◽  
International Community ◽  
Neutral Position ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Cold War

From the mid-1950s on, the United Nations (UN) provided a forum for Finland to have an international presence despite its status as a neutral country in the Cold War. But until 1955, Finland's bid to join the UN was blocked by the Soviet Union. The inability to gain admission caused some Finns to favor staying outside the UN, a view that gained its widest circulation in the latter half of 1950 after the UN had been invoked to respond to North Korea's attack on South Korea. Nonetheless, although some Finns were concerned that membership in the UN might cause their country to become embroiled in a superpower Cold War conflict against its will, others believed that entry into the UN would confer prestige and legitimacy on Finland and strengthen its position as a sovereign member of the international community. Although Finns realized that the UN would not provide a security guarantee, the organization did help Finland to consolidate its neutral position in the Cold War international system.

scholarly journals The East-West Ideological Struggle and the Politics of African Decolonization in the United Nations: Historical Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Aderemi Opeyemi Ade-Ibijola ◽  
Bheki Richard Mngomezulu
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Vested Interests ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War

The history of African decolonization discourses in the United Nations (UN) in the 20th century was replete with vested interests under the guise of moral concerns. This interest was occasioned mainly by the prevalence of the Ideological struggles better known as the ‘Cold War’ between West which the United States led, and the East which was led by the then Soviet Union and allies respectively. Against this background, this paper argues based on the preponderance of archival documents and relevant scholarly resources that the deep-rooted worldwide rivalry for world dominance which ensued between these power blocs after the end of the Second World War in 1945 ushered in a period of politicization of African decolonization issues in the UN from 1960 onwards. The line between egotism and empathy narrowed significantly to the extent that it became too thin to recognize. The findings of this paper show that the Cold War phenomenon significantly shaped the position taken by member states during the debates on the African colonial problem in the UN. Secondly, we conclude in this paper that from the 1960s, the UN became the battleground between the East and the West each fighting for supremacy.

scholarly journals Informal Reform of the United Nations Security Council

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-115
Author(s):  
Mariana Pimenta Oliveira Baccarini
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Institutional Perspective ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Lock In Effect ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Lock In

Abstract This article analyses attempts to reform the United Nations Security Council from a historical-institutional perspective. It argues that the possibilities for reform have suffered from a ‘lock-in’ effect that has rendered the UN resistant to change. On the other hand, the UN decision-making process has evolved since its establishment, especially since the end of the Cold War, in response to new power aspirations, making it more representative and legitimate. The Security Council has also undergone continuous informal reform that has allowed it to adapt to new times.

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