United Nations Essay

The United Nations is one of the widely known global organizations that came into existence after the world wars. According to Mark Mazower’s book; No Enchanted Palace, the historical background including the presumed core reasons for the start of the United Nations is outlined. Many people across the globe believe that the UN came into existence after the World War II skirmishes. It is believed that the core reason for the formation of this organization was to maintain peace around the world. Well known historian Mark Mazower in his book however discards this sort of thoughts. He focuses on the archetype interpretation of the UN's ideological roots, history, and its changing roles in international affairs.

The foundation and formation of UN is brought to light here. He shows us how the UN's creators fancied a world organization that would guard the interests of queen’s imperial empire. He goes further enlightening us on how this imperial objective was resolutely changed by the post-war reassertion of national reign. It was also influenced by unforeseen rise of India and other one-time colonial powers like Germany. In this book, there are a number of icons who greatly influenced the UN’s mission. People like Jan Smuts from South Africa, who saw the need to protect the old imperial and racial order; Raphael Lemkin and Joseph Schechtman who happened to be Jewish elites, disagreed over how the UN should fight genocide and other inhuman oppressive practices. India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru helped transform the UN from a tool of royal empire into an assembly for terminating it.

In his book No Enchanted Palace, Mark Mazower argues that the United Nations, just like the League of Nations before it, did not just emerge from...

... middle of paper ...

...from a pure liberal imagination of global rights but instead, it was a materialization of the British Empire under the queen; Victorian. Smut offered a draft preamble for what was to become the UN charter in 1940s. The body was reshaped by the same imperial thoughts. As he points out, the new organization shunned many of the prior principles of self-determination and minority protection that the League had adopted and for which League officials had organized votes across war-torn Europe. In contrast to its initial objective, the league had been busy in conducting votes and scheming boundary lines across Europe. It is attributed to the refusal it had to the Germans in Eastern Europe on the exclusive right of self rule given to others. Mazower points out that the new UN organization took some decades to rediscover its self-determination. Its main aim had been changed.