Well, peacekeeping, for one thing. A recent study by the RAND Corporation studying peacekeeping missions concludes that “assuming adequate consensus among Security Council members on the purpose for any intervention, the United Nations provides the most suitable institutional framework for most nation-building missions, one with a comparatively low cost structure, a comparatively high success rate, and the greatest degree of international legitimacy.”
Full details at rand.org/publications/MG/MG304/. Thanks to the June issue of The Atlantic for drawing attention to this study. The Atlantic does add a caveat, however – the UN does best in places with a limited mission and no forced entry – ie. not Iraq.
The UN does best in places were peace keeping consists of handing out aid. They have an absolutely terrible track record of keeping people from committing genocide upon each other.
The UN does best in places were peace keeping consists of handing out aid. They have an absolutely terrible track record of keeping people from committing genocide upon each other.
Well of course, they’re not a world police force. People complain about the ineffectiveness of the UN, usually in the same breath as they complain that it’s some sort of world government. Well, the UN is weak precisely because it’s not a world government. It’s weak by design, and considering the legitimate concerns about sovereignty, this isn’t entirely a bad thing.
In other words, the UN is good at the things its been designed to do, and does poorly at the things it’s not designed to do. No surprise here.
I posted this merely to add some balance and remind people that there ARE things the UN does well, as there seems to be more than a fair amount of UN bashing at this site.
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