The United Nations
What is it?
The United Nations is an international organisation of 191 nations/states that aims to keep peace throughout the world and provide humanitarian assistance. 51 countries first developed the United Nations.
When and how was it produced?
The United Nations officially came into existence on October 24, 1945 after World War II. The representatives of 51 countries at the United Nations Conference drew up the United Nations Charter on International Organization. According to the Charter the responsibilities of the members of the United Nations are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations and promote social progress, better living standards and human rights.
What does it do and what are it's strengths and weaknesses:
The United Nations is not a world government or an international police force and it does not have the capacity to impose peace by force. The United Nations relies on the power of persuasion and moral authority.
The UN headquarters in New York
English: United Nations General Assembly hall in N...
English: United Nations Trusteeship Council chambe...The pursuit of human rights was one of the central reasons for creating the United Nations.
A weakness of the United Nations is that it is not an independent organisation; it is made up of states, so actions by the UN depend on the will of Member States, to accept, fund or carry them out. It requires a complex process of consensus building that must take into account national sovereignty as well as global needs.
The United Nations has been holding conferences since the 1960s. United Nations conferences are places in which non-governmental organisations can voice their concerns. At these conferences they discuss national and international policy regarding issues such as the environment, poverty, human rights and economic development. Perhaps another weakness of the United Nations is that once the international agreements produced by these conferences are signed, it is still up...