Do you agree with the view that despite the limitations in the functioning of the UN, it has distinguished and unique achievements to its credit?
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Route 1 Hammarskjöld’s yardstick (save from hell, not carry to heaven) → judged so, agree → limits and achievements share one root
Route 2 UN acts only as far as members permit → failures = members’, achievements = organisation’s → hence “unique”
collective security rests on great-power unanimity → one veto cancels it → Cold War paralysis → failure wherever P5 interest engaged (Rwanda, Srebrenica, Syria) → Pillay: narrow national interest above human suffering → no army, no assured funds → turn: where members did not obstruct → decolonisation (80 members, 750 mn) → human-rights law (UDHR 1948 → Covenants 1966) → more law in seven decades than all earlier history → peacekeeping (172 settlements) → non-political record strongest of all → proves the block is political, not institutional
a body that can be bypassed and starved owns only permitted achievements → Gowan: dangerous dependence on two paying members (US, China) → UN80, May 2026: status quo untenable
Route 1 Hanhimäki: far from flawless, but the forum’s legitimacy has no substitute → that legitimacy is the unique achievement
Route 2 agree — limits owned by members, achievements by the organisation → reform, not replacement, is the honest verdict
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
Also asked on this head
United Nations — 10 questions in the Vault.
- Discuss the structure and functions of UN Security Council.
- Describe the composition of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Discuss its voluntary jurisdiction.
- Discuss the ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ as set by the United Nations.
How this is taught
The same flow snapshot, built for every head of the syllabus, with the answer written in class.
The first session of Foundation 2027 is published in full.
Six programmes across three levels.