Is the United Nations Obsolete? (Encore)
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Why does the debate ask if the United Nations is obsolete?
The year was 1945. The deadliest war in human history was coming to an end, and the world wanted peace. Out of that, the United Nations was born, a global organization devoted to peace and security and human rights. Given the several truly global crises and challenges of our time and long before that, it makes sense that we would need a truly global body to organize and manage a truly global response. In the past 81 years, the UN has had a mixed record on international cooperation, with some particularly notable failures, some of which we're going to be touching on in this debate. Critics say the organization is bloated and outdated and a growing source of controversy. But advocates tout the UN's efforts in humanitarian aid and in climate change and in its commitment to human rights in an ever more fractured political landscape.
So does the United Nations fulfill its mission? Is it failing to live up to its promise? Here in the present moment, the United Nations has commenced its 81st session. I'm John Donvan. This week, as world leaders discuss global issues, we ask this question. Is the United Nations obsolete? We recorded this debate a couple of years back in partnership with the magazine Foreign Affairs. Let's get to it. Arguing for the motion, the UN is obsolete, is Rajan Menon, political scientist and professor at the City College of New York. His partner is Niall Gardner of the Heritage Foundation and a former foreign policy aide to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Opposing them, Angela Kane, former German diplomat and former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs,
as well as Undersecretary General at the United Nations. Her partner, Mohamed Mahmoud Mohamedou, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritania and a scholar of history and politics. This debate, of course, done in partnership with Foreign Affairs, a leading magazine for in-depth analysis and debate of foreign policy, geopolitics, and global affairs. All right, and now here we all are. I happen to be at the moment in New York City, just a few blocks from United Nations headquarters, but we have people from far-flung corners of the world. So I want to welcome all of you. Thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me, John. Hello there. And let me just ask you where you all are. Mahmoud, where are you located right now?
I'm
in Geneva,
right next to
the UN office. And Angela?
I'm in Washington, D.C.
And Rajan? Well, John, as you know, I live in New York City, but at the moment I'm in a tiny village in New Hampshire.
Okay, and
Niall?
John, I'm in Washington, D.C. at the moment.
Let's move on to our first of three rounds. Round one will be opening statements from each debater in turn. Those statements will be four minutes each. Our resolution again is the UN is obsolete and first up to speak in support of the motion, here is Rajan Menon. Rajan, the screen is all yours.
Ladies and gentlemen, the UN evokes considerable admiration. So allow me to begin by clarifying some points. Mal Gardner and I are not here to argue that the UN does nothing of value. That would be untrue and hence, Unpersuasive. Nor are we here to argue that the UN should be abolished. We don't believe it should be. No state would want it. Why would states want it abolished? The UN lacks the power to get states to do anything they don't want to do, and yet states routinely use the UN to further their interest. What a lovely arrangement. Why spoil that? I want to make in the time that I have a two-fold argument for your considerations. First, the United Nations no longer represents the world as it is. It has a representational problem.
The world has changed, the UN has not changed to match it. Second, the UN has an efficacy problem. That is, on the major issues of the day, in terms of moving the needle, it has been either irrelevant or peripheral. Let's begin with the representational problem, part of the reason why the UN is in danger of becoming obsolete. If you look at the Security Council, it has been frozen in time, ladies and gentlemen, for 76 years, except for the admission of the People's Republic of China in 1971.
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