The Purpose of the United Nations (UN)

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The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 in order to promote international cooperation. The UN was founded by 51 nations and replaced the failed League of Nations after the Second World War. Its goals are to maintain international peace, foster friendly relations among nations and to promote social and economical progress. Since its establishment, the UN has grown to 193 total members, with only 3 nations that are excluded due to political reasons. Over the course of the last 68 years, the UN has succeeded in numerous ways such as preventing war, peacekeeping and providing humanitarian assistance. However, The UN has also failed on numerous fronts due to the political discord among its member nations, especially among the five permanent nations on the Security Council.
The Parliament of Man by Paul Kennedy is an extremely informative and comprehensive book on the United Nations. The book continually refers to the original charter of the UN to provide a historical context for the reader, reminding them of the immense challenges that were present in 1945. In the first chapter, Kennedy provides an extensive overview of the origins of the United Nations, reviewing multiple conferences between the United States and the Soviet Union and how compromises were reached before the signing the of charter in San Francisco. Afterwards, Kennedy goes in-depth on the evolution of the UN from its initial foundation to its present day organization. The next chapters are organized thematically rather than chronologically. Although this does not allow readers to have a sequential view of the entirety of the UN, it does allow readers to become engrossed in the individual agencies within the UN. According to Kennedy, the UN ha...

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...the world leaders are willing to acknowledge the underlying cracks in its the foundation.
In his book, The Parliament of Man, Kennedy shines a light on everything the United Nations has done, from the amazing successes to the worst failures. Throughout the book, Kennedy tries to provide the reader with as much information as possible regarding the past, present and future of the UN. The United Nations was founded 68 years ago, however, since then the world has changed immensely. In order to survive as an international organization, changes must be made. Kennedy provides several suggestions on how to keep the UN as a relevant organization in the ever-changing world, but he also recognizes that the leaders of the Security Council will always be reluctant to share power. Overall, Kennedy provides a strong in-depth history of how the UN has come to take its modern form.

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