NationStates Jolt Archive

I know that many belive that the UN has not been effective at all except for maybe a few times in history. While others seem to disagree. I would like your opinion on how effective the un is.

I don't think the UN is doing well at all. They have'nt prevented any conflict in the middle east; there is genocide, starvation, and the aids epidemic in africa which nothing is being done for. And finally the Koreans and the Iranians are building a weapons program right under their noses.

Itd be doing a lot better if the key players in it didnt ignore them.

It's failing, because nations have long since realized that disobeying it isn't very difficult at all. And since almost every nation in the UN does screw the rules, there's no one to enforce them. The fact that the UN doesn't command a big amount of military power is key in this. The UN can of course call an embargo on a nation, but if it's some huge economic superpower that other nations depend on for goods, then declaring an embargo isn't gonna do much.

Are you talking about the Real Life UN or the UN at nationstates?

If you're talking about the RL U.N., this belongs in General; if you're talking about the NationStates UN (which is totally different), this belongs in the United Nations forum.

Like I said, the two are totally different. The RL UN is an ineffective, corrupt institution to promote peace, democracy and human rights throughout the world.

The NSUN is an ineffective, corrupt agreement between 20,000-some nationstates to abide by certain rules and laws. Those who ignore them are often ignored themselves by experienced players. Those who can effectively RP defiance, however, may be subject to diplomatic troubles, economic/political sanctions or even military action by other member states. It's really the only realistic (i.e., non-Godmoded) way to enforce compliance -- since there is no RP entity that can govern UN business -- which makes it a very ineffective organization.

As for how good a job the NSUN is doing, despite some very boneheaded decisions, in recent years the UN has managed to repeal a lot of crap from its early days and replace it with more effective international law. Even so, the General Assembly remains a snakepit of corruption, vice and ignorance.

The NSUN is ineffective, because no one with any true power enforces it in an OOC sense. If it was, well, it might have the same problems as below:

The real-life UN is ineffective, because lolpoliticians don't know an assault rifle from their ass. I'd like to point to the UNAMIR and their political superiors' woefully inadequate handling of the "rules" of the conflict as my prime example, although I hope at some point the SRSG will become less of a watchdog for the Secretariat and more of a civilian liaison for what should be a military operation. Alternatively, I can hope for a more militarily competent SG as I hear Kofi was, but that's an imperfect solution.

The RLUN fails for many reasons, but the fact that any Security Council member can veto anything dooms it from the start.

The NSUN fails because it has no military, and good luck getting 20,000 members to agree on economic sanctions.

Are you talking about the Real Life UN or the UN at nationstates?

Real life

[QUOTE=The NSUN fails because it has no military, and good luck getting 20,000 members to agree on economic sanctions.[/QUOTE]

Thats a good one.

If you're talking about the RL U.N., this belongs in General; if you're talking about the NationStates UN (which is totally different), this belongs in the United Nations forum.


So someone here should move this to the general forums then.

ok i moved this to general category.