Do you endorse that the United Nations needs major changes in its structures and functioning? Suggest the changes for efficient improvements.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Route 1 Hammarskjöld’s minimum test (save humanity from hell) → Rwanda / Srebrenica / Darfur fall below even that → endorse major change
Route 2 Joel Ng: legitimacy = representation + effectiveness → UN short on both → so structures and functioning both need change
Council’s composition frozen at 1945 → no permanent seat for Africa / Latin America → veto converts P5 rivalry into paralysis (Syria, Ukraine) → same fault runs into functioning: no standing army, borrowed troops, slow deployment, funding shortfalls → Barnett: reactive, not preventive → hence remedies on both tracks → structure: expand both categories (Africa, Latin America, India), Annan’s 24-member plan, restrain the veto, greater decision-making weight for the General Assembly → functioning: peacekeeping → peacebuilding, quicker deployment, Sachs on merging/closing overlapping programmes, Secretariat transparency + independent oversight
Weiss: entrenched interests will not concede reform without a burden-sharing bargain → UN80 (2026): posts cut 21%, Council composition untouched → efficiency can be administered, representation must be conceded → Guterres himself: status quo “untenable”
Route 1 Vajpayee: UN only as effective as members allow → reform begins at the top, in the Council, or the body goes moribund
Route 2 managerial reform without Council reform leaves the veto intact → representation remains the test of a credible UN
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.