The League of Nations was established after the first world war to enforce the agreements reached following the cessation of hostilities with Germany, while also creating a forum to cooperatively maintain a new global order. The League of Nations subsequently transformed into the United Nations at the end of the second world war. Its mission was still the same but its intention was more focused on maintaining and reinforcing a power dynamic that ensured that the super powers maintained control over global affairs.
The setup of the United Nations mostly serves the interests of the permanent members. The basic intention is that if the super powers are kept happy then they would be less likely to go to war with each other culminating in another world war. However, this does not stop such super powers attacking other countries, or supporting internal conflicts or wars between other countries. In actual fact, permanent members have a veto that ultimately thwarts united action and silences smaller nations with concerns about their sovereignty. So it is clear that the United Nations has no ability to prevent war where a super power wishes it. It is also not able to guarantee global peace unless member countries choose to exercise restraint.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not the first time a superpower or a superpower backed nation has unilaterally attacked another country. The Soviet Union attempted to invade Afghanistan, the U.K. waged a military campaign in the Falklands, the USA has attacked Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel bombed Iran, Saudi Arabia attacked Yemen, and Russia has invaded territory in Georgia and Crimea. While there may not have been universal support for all these action the United Nations was helpless to prevent or stop them.
There is no doubt that the United Nations and its agencies do a lot of good work across the globe. Work which is underpinning well-being and development in many countries. However, it is clear that certain permanent members have chosen to either ignore or circumvent the charter in order to attack other countries. As an organisation that was setup to stop wars and maintain peace its workings haven’t proven effective at doing this.
