Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject Politics - Topic: International Organisations, grade: 1 (A), Southern Cross University, Lismore (Politics), course: Peace, War and International Politics, language: English, abstract: The United Nations (UN) was established in 1945 by the five victorypowers of World War II - China, France, the United Kingdom, The United States ofAmerica and the former Soviet Union to maintain the post-war peace. Its Charterwas drawn up by representatives of fifty countries and ratified by the original andpermanent members. According to Article 1 of the Charter, the UN s primarypurpose is to maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to takeeffective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to thepeace 1. Today, 191 states are members of the global organization and subscribethemselves to the UN Charter to share the responsibility for international peaceand security. The Charter established six principle organs, of which the Security Councilis the most important with the primary responsibility to settle different kinds ofconflicts to maintain the global peace and security. While other organs makerecommendations to governments, the Council alone has the power to takedecisions and initiate actions including the use of force, which Member States areobligated under the Charter to carry out. The Security Councils consists of 15 Member States: the five permanentones, which can veto any draft resolution on substantive matters reflecting theassumption that the major powers would act together to provide collective globalsecurity, and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year periods. When acomplaint concerning a threat to peace is brought before it, the Council usuallyrecommends the parties several peace-making methods like negotiation,investigation or mediation to reach agreement by peaceful means. When adispute gets worse or leads to fighting it is empowered to call for cease-fires,order economic sanctions, and even authorize military action against anaggressor on behalf of the UN. One tool for maintaining international peace andsecurity not embodied in the Charter is the use of peacekeeping forces to preventexisting dispute from reigniting using force only in self-defence, and operating ina neutral and impartial way with the consent of the parties to disputes 2. Unfortunately, administrative and budgetary constraints limit the UN scapacity to respond to every serious threat to peace. [...]1 United Nations, Divided World the UN s Roles in International Relations , 1996, p.500.
