SOLVING PROBLEMS IN THE REAL WORLD

THE UNITED NATIONS Founded in 1945 at end of WWII World governments saw how the League of Nations failed, tens of millions of people were dead, and many parts of the world were destroyed Goal: to maintain international peace and security and promote social and economic development in the world

THE UNITED NATIONS SUCCESS OR FAILURE? The short answer: it’s too difficult to answer! The most powerful part of the UN is the Security Council (the body that can impose sanctions on nations that threaten peace) There are 3 types of sanctions that are imposed by the UN: 1.Verbal Sanctions – least severe (demand that the action stop) 2.Economic Sanctions – all trade with offending country may be cut off 3.Military Sanctions – most severe – member countries provide appropriate troops to stop the transgressor and help restore peace The security council has 5 permanent members (China, France, Russia, UK, USA) who have veto power (to reject) over any resolution (all 5 must agree) The UN, therefore does not take action often as permanent members wish to protect their own interests (e.g. The Soviet Union used their veto 79 times during the Cold War – )

THE UNITED NATIONS SUCCESS OR FAILURE? The UN General Assembly meets each year from September to December and includes representatives from all 192 members. The Security Council is the only one with enforcement powers The permanent members reflects the powers that won WWII and not the geopolitics of today (e.g. India and Brazil warrant admission) In order for the UN to work, countries must give up some of their national sovereignty (unlike the US in the lead up to the Iraq War in 2003)

PEACE KEEPING & PEACE MAKING Peacekeeping – occurs when the UN provides a force of soldiers, and often police and civilian officials, to maintain order in a country or region that has experienced conflict. There are most peacekeeping missions today than ever before Peacemaking – occurs when the UN or other forces must impose peace on warring factions. E.g. Korean War ( ) & Gulf War ( ) See figure 25-3 on p. 398 for a list of world peacekeeping activities

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded in 1949 as a US-led defence and security organization to counteract the threat to western Europe by the USSR Under the NATO agreement, a threat to any member is regarded as a threat to all Original members – USA, Canada, and 10 European States (see p. 400) In 1955 – the USSR and its allies created the Warsaw Pact to counteract NATO NATO has taken an active role as both peacemaker in Europe and outside of its borders (e.g. Afghanistan)