Is the UN Relevant?

By Ramas Ramas -


Is the UN Relevant?  A question I posed to some of the groups.  I got mixed reactions.  My thoughts on this issue (by no means authoritative) are as follows.

I've been thinking about the UN lately.  Is it relevant? My view—we should seriously consider dismantling it for the following reasons.

The UN system, including the core budget, peacekeeping operations, and specialized agencies, costs billions of dollars annually. Sadly, this huge investment has failed to deliver on its primary purpose of maintaining international peace and security. 

Since the end of WW2, the UN has failed to prevent or resolve the Korean War, Vietnam War, Cyprus war, Rwanda and Gaza genocides, Serbian massacre, wars in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan, the Arab-Israeli wars, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the US invasion of Venezuela. These are just the major conflicts. Countless smaller ones, like the Thailand-Cambodia crisis and China's invasion of Vietnam, show the same pattern.

The main argument of the defenders of the UN system is that the UN has prevented conflicts we don't see or that things would be worse without it. But how can we prove what didn't happen? We can only prove what did happen: a long list of failures.

Some point to the UN's work in aviation standards, postal services, health, and education. These are valuable, but do they need bundling under one massive political organization? The International Civil Aviation Organization and Universal Postal Union already operate as specialized agencies. They could continue independently, probably more efficiently and at a lower cost, without being tied to a political structure that doesn't work.

What would replace the UN? Perhaps bilateral or regional dispute resolution. Maybe it would work better, maybe not. But it wouldn't be more expensive, and given the UN's track record, it's hard to imagine it being significantly less effective. We need to stop hoping a failed system will suddenly produce different results.

The real issue is that the Security Council reflects post-WW2 power dynamics. The world has completely transformed since then. We live in a multipolar world with new powers, new challenges, and new conflicts. The UN hasn't evolved.

How about reforming the UN?  The 5 permanent UNSC members have veto power over any Charter amendments. The countries that would need to approve reform benefit most from the current system. They won't vote to give up their privileges. The UN has a structural bug that cannot be fixed.  Reform of the UN system has been an ongoing process for the last few decades with very little headway made.  We should not waste time with this debate, as the necessary change would not happen.

We're spending hundreds of billions on an organization designed for a world that no longer exists and cannot adapt because its powerful members won't allow change. Its primary mission continues to fail.

The best way forward is to dismantle the UN system. Let technical and specialized agencies continue their work independently. The International Court of Justice could handle bilateral and regional disputes. Countries and regions could develop new forums for dialogue designed for today's world, not 1945.

I'm not claiming dismantling the UN would create an era of peace. We need honesty about what we're getting for our investment. We're pouring enormous resources into an institution that repeatedly fails at its most important job, cannot reform itself, and may give us false security while real conflicts rage on.

The question isn't whether alternatives would be perfect. It's whether we can do better than what we have now. Given the UN's record over nearly 80 years, the answer is most likely yes. We should try something different rather than funding an obsolete institution out of habit or nostalgia for 1945 idealism.

International cooperation remains essential. But cooperation doesn't require this particular institution, especially one so resistant to change and ineffective at its core mission. It's time to think seriously about what needs to be done.

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