This month’s annual gathering of the United Nations marks 80 years since its founding charter was adopted in the waning months of World War II. Since then, the U.N.’s membership has almost quadrupled, from 51 nations to more than 190. It has achieved successes in global health, peacekeeping, women’s and children’s rights, poverty reduction, and treaties that govern international communications, atomic energy, and air transport. But alongside these, the U.N.’s challenges and divisions have also multiplied.
The United States has long been the U.N.’s largest funder. However, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claims, “The post-war global order is not just obsolete, it is now a weapon being used against us.” The administration has accused the International Criminal Court, for example, of unfair investigation of U.S. personnel. The U.S. has recently slashed foreign assistance in general and scaled down participation in several multinational agencies and security alliances.
The U.N. now faces difficult discussions over its funding and purpose, requiring it to reflect on the changeless values that drove its creation.
“The UN’s founding ideals – dignity, justice, solidarity – are not obsolete,” says Jem Bendell, a former professor at the University of Cumbria in Britain and consultant to the U.N. Postwar structures “were designed for a world that no longer exists,” he agrees. But their “spirit,” he writes, represents “a future, if we dare to change course.”
Many citizens across the globe – notably Americans – still believe in multinational cooperation. In July, the Pew Research Center reported that 57% of Americans hold a favorable view of the U.N., an increase of five percentage points over last year. Support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which is committed to mutual defense as well as “democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” is at 77%, according to Gallup. The American Enterprise Institute concludes that more than half of 40 selected multinational organizations contribute “significantly” or “some” to U.S. interests.
At the “high level” U.N. sessions next week, world leaders will present their views on the future of the U.N. and divisive global issues – including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as civil conflicts and climate change. There will likely be abstentions, vetoes, or walkouts.
Pursuing peace is not easy and will require the U.N. to be better at mediating conflict and forging consensus. Upholding the U.N.’s founding purpose, U.S. President Harry Truman said in 1945, would “tax the moral strength and fibre of us all.” But having the U.N. Charter at all was “cause for profound thanksgiving,” he said. “It was proof that nations … can state their differences, can face them, and then can find common ground on which to stand. … That is the essence of keeping the peace in the future.”
