{"id":673872,"date":"2025-10-20T20:51:55","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T00:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=673872"},"modified":"2025-10-20T20:51:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T00:51:55","slug":"what-is-the-united-nations-organization-history-explained-673872","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/what-is-the-united-nations-organization-history-explained-673872\/","title":{"rendered":"After 80 years, is the United Nations past its prime?"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Randall Stone, an expert on international institutions, explains the UN\u2019s enduring influence\u2014and its limits. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":942,"featured_media":673992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[456],"tags":[21462,24692,16072],"class_list":["post-673872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-culture","tag-department-of-political-science","tag-randall-stone","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":{"external":"","hide_featured_image":false,"related":"show_related","style":[605022,513812,614652],"content_modules":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-15","title":"

Randall Stone, an expert on international institutions, explains the UN\u2019s enduring influence\u2014and its limits.<\/h2>","content":"As the United Nations<\/a> marks its 80th anniversary, the record of the world\u2019s largest\u2014and arguably most important\u2014international organization is mixed. Moments of decisive action vie with long stretches of gridlock, while the debate continues over whether the institution has outlived its purpose. Its history since 1945 is at once a study in institutional ambition, fragile diplomacy, and a constant tug-of-war between global ideals and national interests.\r\n\r\nTo Randall Stone<\/a>, a professor of political science<\/a> at the 糖心传媒<\/a>, one of the UN\u2019s greatest contributions over the last eight decades has been to \u201creduce frictions\u201d that would otherwise prevent cooperation among its 193 member states<\/a>. But he is sanguine about its limitations.\r\n\r\nThe question, he says, is whether the organization can continue to matter in an era of intensifying US-China tensions, a resurgent Russia, and planetary crises such as climate change and pandemics.\r\n\r\nSpoiler alert: He says it can and must.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"

The UN\u2019s founding: A vision born of war<\/h3>","content":"[caption id=\"attachment_674042\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"514\"]\"Black A member of the delegation from Guatemala, signing the United Nations Charter at a ceremony held at the Veterans' War Memorial Building on June 26, 1945. The United Nations officially came into existence four months later on 24 October 1945. (UN Photo\/McLain<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nConceived in 1945 in the direct aftermath of World War II, the UN was designed to avoid a repeat of the failures of its forerunner, the League of Nations<\/a>. Its most important innovation was to embed power directly into its organizational structure by giving five powerful countries\u2014China, Russia (then the Soviet Union), the United States, the United Kingdom, and France\u2014a greater voice within the organization by providing them with a veto right.\r\n\r\nThe veto assures the great powers that actions won\u2019t be taken that violate their fundamental interests. \u201cAs a result,\u201d Stone says, \u201cthey\u2019re willing to participate.\u201d\r\n\r\nThat trade-off\u2014providing legitimacy for small states on one hand and guarantees for mightier powers on the other\u2014was the bargain that made the organization possible. Yet it simultaneously sowed the seeds of future paralysis. After all, no action can be taken if one of the five permanent Security Council members isn\u2019t on board.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"

When consensus works<\/h3>","content":"The UN\u2019s history, says Stone, is studded with episodes when consensus among the Security Council\u2019s permanent members enabled real breakthroughs. One of the earliest came in Indonesia in 1947, when Dutch forces fought to recolonize the southeast Asian archipelago. After years of brutal war, the UN Security Council forced a ceasefire and passed a successful resolution<\/a> that demanded a Dutch withdrawal.\r\n
\u201c<\/span>International cooperation around problems that are of general interest is still worth investing in.\u201d<\/div>\r\n\u201cThe muscle behind that,\u201d says Stone, \u201ccame from the Truman administration, which threatened to withhold Marshall Plan funds from the Netherlands if it failed to comply, but there also was a united front of the five permanent members.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe model held in 1991, after Iraq invaded Kuwait<\/a> and the Security Council agreed to act. When Iraq refused to heed the demand to withdraw, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 678, authorizing member states to use \u201call necessary means\u201d to force Iraq out of Kuwait. As an aside, Stone points out that the US ended up collecting more monetary contributions from UN members toward its military expenses than the total cost of the war against Iraq. \u201cWe actually made a profit on the First Gulf War,\u201d he notes.\r\n\r\nIn 2015, with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action<\/a> (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, the UN proved critical.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Obama administration was able to get all five Security Council members on board, which meant that if anyone tried to run around the Iran sanctions, they could be blocked, rendering the sanctions extraordinarily effective.\u201d\r\n\r\nBut such successes, Stone notes, are the exception rather than the rule.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"

The limits of design<\/h3>","content":"When consensus frays, a veto looms. The Security Council structure, Stone says, reflects an unavoidable dilemma: Cooperative solutions to international conflict require agreement between the major powers. No clever institutional redesign can escape that fact. Weighted voting, broader representation, or curbing vetoes might look fairer, but without buy-in from the great powers, the enforcement of any policy or resolution is impossible.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_674052\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2000\"]\"Wide A wide view of the General Assembly Hall during the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025. (UN Photo\/Eskinder Debebe<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThat leaves the General Assembly as a forum with symbolic clout but little strength. Still, its influence is not trivial: All the major human rights treaties that have been adopted since 1945, Stone notes, started with votes in the UN General Assembly. From human rights to climate change, the General Assembly has launched cooperative approaches to global problems that would not exist otherwise.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"

Climate change action\u2014success or failure?<\/h3>","content":"Asked whether the UN\u2019s climate action belongs in the success or failure column, Stone resists a simple binary answer. Climate change has become an existential issue that threatens to reduce the quality of life on earth dramatically, while lowering our planet\u2019s ability to sustain populations and species. That\u2019s why any climate action will be \u201cvery controversial at every step\u201d because the adjustments necessary to national economies are going to be \u201cvery painful and very costly.\u201d\r\n\r\nHence, the need to coordinate policies. \u201cWe need every instrument we have,\u201d Stone says, \u201cand the only global institutions that are engaging very effectively with climate change right now are UN institutions.\u201d\r\n\r\nClimate action progress has been uneven, contested, and fragile. But, says Stone, \u201cit\u2019s the pragmatic best you can do under bad circumstances.\u201d","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"

Health, human rights, and development\u2014some successes<\/h3>","content":"If climate policy illustrates the organization\u2019s limits, public health showcases the UN at its most effective.\r\n\r\nThe World Health Organization<\/a> (WHO) and other UN agencies have dramatically expanded vaccination programs and the availability of medicines around the globe. The swift and decisive actions at the onset of the Ebola outbreak proved vital, according to Stone.\r\n\r\n\u201cIf the UN hadn\u2019t been in place,\u201d he argues, \u201cthere wouldn\u2019t have been an early warning of the crisis and Ebola might have reached the United States.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_674032\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"630\"]\"The The World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters located in Geneva, Switzerland. (Getty Images photo \/ Robert Hradil)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nHuman rights treaties, too, have played an important role. Stone points to evidence that countries that sign human rights treaties end up improving their behavior afterward, noting that while far from perfect, \u201cit\u2019s a bit of an amelioration of a really bad situation, rather than solving the problem outright.\u201d\r\n\r\nAnother clear success comes in the form of international aid and development.\r\n\r\nOver the last 40 years, per Stone, billions of people have been raised out of crushing poverty. UN agencies have played important roles along with the World Bank<\/a> and the OECD<\/a> (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) in mobilizing collective responses to acute crises and in coordinating broad commitments to address long-term obstacles to development.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"

Failures in Rwanda and Bosnia<\/h3>","content":"For all the successes, the UN\u2019s failures are searing. Probably the most obvious foundering of peacekeeping were Rwanda and Bosnia in the 1990s when the permanent members were unwilling to act or divided, says Stone.\r\n\r\nIn Rwanda, the major powers lacked interest. In Bosnia, Russia blocked common action. While those decisions are made by the leaders of major countries, the UN can act only when there\u2019s consensus.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"

America\u2019s stake<\/strong><\/h3>","content":"The United States is the UN\u2019s largest contributor, and it has often withheld funds for political leverage. Still, Stone insists that America reaps more than it pays because a large actor benefits disproportionately from economic development in the rest of the world. For example, Stone explains, US firms are in position to gain more of the profits when poor countries develop than firms from smaller countries.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_674082\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2000\"]\"A Representatives from the member delegations at the United Nations General Assembly. (UN Photo\/Manuel El\u00edas<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nOf course, broader geopolitical reasons also came into play when the US felt during the Cold War, for example, the need to invest in developing countries. \u201cThere was concern that if those countries descended even more into poverty, they would turn to communism,\u201d Stone says. Washington, he notes, has long used the UN to amplify its national agenda.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"

Is the UN still necessary?<\/strong><\/h3>","content":"Has the UN outlived its usefulness? Stone flatly rejects that notion.\r\n\r\n\u201cInternational cooperation around problems that are of general interest is still worth investing in,\u201d he says. \u201cI think the UN is more necessary than ever.\u201d\r\n\r\nWhy? Because today\u2019s pressing problems\u2014climate change, pandemics, global security\u2014are larger, more complex, and more existential than before. Stone cautions that the gravity of global problems has increased while the ability of individual countries to address them has decreased. If cooperation fails, the quality of life on earth will be \u201cdramatically reduced.\u201d All of this will \u201crequire engagement, sacrifice, and policy intervention for many, many decades to come.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn the future, pandemics like COVID-19 are likely to be more frequent and could be much worse. \u201cImagine,\u201d he says, \u201cif Ebola had spread as quickly and easily as Covid did.\u201d","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"

A forum, not a panacea<\/strong><\/h3>","content":"[caption id=\"attachment_674212\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"350\"]\"United (Photo by Bernd \ud83d\udcf7 Dittrich<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nStone cautions against overestimating the UN. It simply cannot end rivalries between Washington and Beijing, nor resolve Moscow\u2019s war in Ukraine. Rather, its most tangible contribution is keeping adversaries in the same room. \u201cIt\u2019s a mistake,\u201d he says, \u201cto think that the UN can really solve the great power conflicts. But the Security Council provides a forum where they do have to come together and talk periodically.\u201d\r\n\r\nUltimately, the great powers can\u2019t exercise their vetoes unless they show up for the meetings. That dialogue may not end wars or stop atrocities, but it ensures that even adversaries meet, argue, and explain themselves. Sometimes, keeping the dialogue alive is the most the UN can do. And sometimes, Stone says, that may be enough.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"mt-0 pt-0","css_class":"","title":"

United Nations basics in 1 minute<\/h3>","content":"

Why was the UN founded?<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nAccording to Article 1 of the UN Charter<\/a>, the UN\u2019s main purpose is to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, foster cooperation to solve international problems, and promote human rights.\r\n

How is the UN organized?<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nAll 193 member countries meet and discuss topics in the\u00a0General Assembly. Five permanent and 10 non-permanent member countries sit on the Security Council that handles peace and security. The UN runs various agencies like UNICEF, WHO, and UNESCO that focus on health, education, and aid. The\u00a0International Court of Justice<\/a>\u00a0is the UN\u2019s main judicial organ, located in the Hague, Netherlands.\r\n

Which countries are on the Security Council?<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nThe UN Security Council has 15 members: 5 permanent members\u2014China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US (all hold veto power)\u2014and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_674312\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"630\"]\"Wide Security Council meeting in March 2024 on the situation in Afghanistan. (UN Photo\/Eskinder Debebe<\/a>)[\/caption]\r\n

What does the Security Council do?<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nThe Security Council can issue binding resolutions, enact sanctions, authorize military action, and recommend both a UN Secretary-General and new UN members.\r\n

Does the UN have its own army?<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nNo. It relies on member countries to send troops for peacekeeping missions.\r\n

Who pays for the UN?<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nAll 193 member countries contribute money. Some pay more\u2014like the US, China, and Japan\u2014and some pay less. The money funds peacekeeping, development, and humanitarian work worldwide.\r\n

Where is the UN located?<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nThe UN\u2019s headquarters are in New York City.","background_color":"#f4f4f4","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-15","title":"

Meet the expert<\/strong><\/h3>","content":"[caption id=\"attachment_673892\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"350\"]\"Circle Randall Stone (糖心传媒 photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nPolitical scientist\u00a0Randall Stone<\/a>, the director of the University of Rochester\u2019s\u00a0Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies<\/a>, is an expert on international institutions and has written extensively on Russia and Eastern and Central Europe. His latest book project, Multinational Order: US Firms and International Organization<\/em> (Cambridge University Press), is due in March 2026. Stone is also the author of\u00a0Controlling Institutions: International Organizations and the Global Economy<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Cambridge University Press, 2011), Lending Credibility: The International Monetary Fund and the Post-Communist Transition<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Princeton University Press, 2002), and\u00a0Satellites and Commissars: Strategy and Conflict in the Politics of Soviet-Bloc Trade<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(Princeton University Press, 1996), as well as numerous articles.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid","anchor":"","css_class":"","title":"","description":"","background_color":"#FFFFFF","width":"width-medium","columns":"1","cards":[{"card_title":"

Rochester Political Science<\/p>","card_text":"For more than five decades, the University of Rochester's top-ranked Department of Political Science has transformed the discipline\u2014even pioneering the positive political theory approach, now mainstream in the field.\r\n

We put the \u2018science\u2019 in political science<\/p>","card_background_color":"#00205b","card_hover_color":"#283faf","card_link":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/www.sas.rochester.edu\/psc\/","target":""},"card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":626192,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""}]}]},"yoast_head":"\nAfter 80 years, is the United Nations past its prime?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"糖心传媒 professor Randall Stone explains the United Nation\u2019s enduring influence\u2014and its limits.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/what-is-the-united-nations-organization-history-explained-673872\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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