The United Nations Since 1945: An Appraisal

Abstract

While the United Nations offers new channels for international co-operative policies and for collaborative action, emphasis upon national sovereignty and the defense of national interest has tended to make of it an instrument of national policy to defend and extend the vital national interests of the member states. There exist an essential dualism in the Char ter and a pragmatic dualism in American policy regarding the United Nations. With the international shift from an allied- axis split to an East-West split, it has become apparent that the effectiveness of the United Nations in settling disputes is directly related to the remoteness of the dispute from the bi polar conflict. The United Nations clearly lacks the power to be effective within the Soviet sphere. The United States has, in the past, used the United Nations as an instrument of its national policy, but, with the admission to the United Na tions of Afro-Asian states who oppose the colonialist allies of the United States, the United States can no longer count on majorities favorable to its national policies. It can be said that the United Nations and its members live today with one foot in the world of power and the other foot in the hopes for a future world order. In the present global struggle, the great est contribution of the United Nations may well be its function as an educational forum before the world.—Ed.