The Role of the United Nations in a Collective Security Essay

The Role of the United Nations in a Collective Security - Essay ExampleRecent international developments, however, have proven that incorporated security measure as envisaged by the UN Charter of 1945 is inadequate to meet the exigencies of the times. In the past, the collective security function of the United Nations had often failed because it had become a arena of the two superpowers which emerged after the 2nd World War. The UN, especially its, however, security functions, was held hostage to the power play of these two countries. Even before the dust of the war had settled, the brilliant competition for global supremacy between the United States (US) and the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) began to take root into what has been called the Cold War, so termed because despite the importunate fighting between the two sides on all fronts it did not entail the use of weapons. This intense conflict between the two superpowers affected the UN and its collective securi ty functions because of its inherent structural defect. It would seem that the name United Nations is not the same as equal nations because five of its members are not only given long-lived standing but a commanding veto vote. When the organization was established in 1945, the countries which fought together with the Axis powers namely, the US, USSR, the United Kingdom (UK), China, and France were accorded permanent seats in the Security Council (SC) (Krasno 2004). As members of the P5, both the US and the USSR, together with the other three countries, have the sole veto power over any draft resolvent of the UN (Zhu & Hearn 1999).