The End of the Line for the UN?

Earlier this evening I stopped off at the ICA to listen to a panel discussion on the subject The End of the Line for the UN?. Naturally the discussion revolved quite strongly on the interplay between the UN and the USA & UK during the recent invasion of Iraq, but also considered past conflicts such as Kosovo, Bosnia, Somalia, even way back to Korea, one of the earliest conflicts in UN history. While there was disagreement on the legality of these conflicts, there was in the end firm agreement that despite initial outward appearances, the UN is not actually redundant in todays world. The conclusion. On the contrary, discounting the admittedly significant blib on the issue of Iraq, the UN is recent years has become much more effective in its role than it was for much of the early years during the cold war. The issue is more one of perception, with people pushing the organization meet ever higher standards in the work it does, and while it is making corresponding improvements there is inevitably always more that can be done. In addition, if one takes a look at the areas where the UN has not been so successful, the reasons for many problems can be attributed to a lack of political will, or conflicting vested interests. For such things you can’t critize the UN itself, but rather it is the duty of the general populace of [democratic] countries to hold their governments accountable to their wishes. A democratic society is not something one can or should take for granted, people must maintain awareness & pressure to keep their governements honest. In summary, far from us witnessing a decline in the UN, we’re merely seeing it evolving & beginning to take on a stronger form in the post-Cold War world.