Page

Table of Contents
No.

1. Introduction. 1

2. Background. 3

3. Treaty of Versailles. 5

4. League Of Nations.

5. Failures of league of nations.

6. Other pacts.

7. World War 2. 12

8. The United Nations - Step towards Internationalism. 13

Main organs.
9.

Origin.
10.

11. UN charter.

a. Success of handling the disputes.

b. Failures of handling disputes.

13. Conclusion. 21

14. Bibliography. 22
 Introduction:
Background:
According to Wikipedia “An international organization is an organization with an international
membership, scope, or presence. There are two main types: Non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) and International governmental organizations (IGOs).

Historically, international organizations have often been conceptualized as entities capable of

performing a single task: the management of common problems. These Organizations are
actually the extensions of states, doing those things that states cannot do (or might be reluctant to
do) on their own. Some of its dominating purposes are to manage an international waterway,
monitor human rights violations, provide loans so as to facilitate economic development,
facilitate smooth industrial relations and the management of peace and security. Thus a need of
international organizations has always existed throughout the history of world.

Before the development of any international organization there had been many failed treaties,
alliances and pacts among the fighting countries. Roman’s were the first nation to start any kind
of peace making organization and in 6th century Greeks made world’s first international
organization named amphietyonic league and later French also proposed the concept of
establishing alliances. Some of the renowned peace keeping treaties made prior to United
Nations are:

Treaty of Versailles:
The Treaty of Versailles was the peace settlement signed after World War One had ended in
1918 and in the shadow of the Russian Revolution and other events in Russia. It was fought
among Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, Russia, America, Germany, Austria, Turkey and Bulgaria
resulting in deaths of 8.5 million people due to many reasons which include Alliance Systems,
competition for colonies, all the countries within the hostile camps were building large armies
and navies and Strong feelings of nationalism fed the fires of hatred in pre-war Europe.

The treaty was signed at the vast Versailles Palace near Paris between Germany and the Allies at
the Versailles Palace which was considered the most appropriate venue because of its size.
Hundreds of people were involved in the process and the final signing ceremony in the Hall of
Mirrors with the three most important politicians David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau and
Woodrow Wilson.

League of Nations:
The only way to avoid a repetition of disasters caused by World War was to create an
international body whose sole purpose was to maintain world peace and which would sort out
international disputes as and when they occurred and thus League of Nations came into being
after the end of World War One when an agreement was signed on June 28, 1919 & came into
effect on Jan 10, 1920 in Geneva, Switzerland to ensure that war never broke out again and to
bring stability to the world and to maintain the status quo as dictated by the terms of treaty of
Versailles. Its object above all was the disarmament of Germany. The 3 main functions of the
league were:
 1. To direct the activities of specialized international organizations and to coordinate them
to promote international cooperation

2. To ensure that the international obligations are fulfilled.

3. Provision of safeguard against war with the aid of permanent secretariat.

Failures of League of Nations:

The main reasons for the failure of the League of Nations are as follow:

1 .Not all countries joined the League:

Although the idea for the League of Nations had come from Woodrow Wilson, there was a
change of government in the United States before the signing of the treaty and the new
Republican government refused to join. As a punishment for having started World War One,
Germany was not allowed to join and Russia was also excluded due to a growing fear of
Communism. Other countries decided not to join and some joined but later left.

2. The League had no power:

The main weapon of the League was to ask member countries to stop trading with an aggressive
country. However, this did not work because countries could still trade with non-member
countries. When the world was hit by depression in the late 1920s countries were reluctant to
lose trading partners to other non-member countries.

3. The League had no army:

Soldiers were to be supplied by member countries. However, countries were reluctant to get
involved and risk provoking an aggressive country into taking direct action against them and
failed to provide troops.

4. Unable to act quickly:

The Council of the League of Nations only met four times a year and decisions had to be agreed
by all nations. When countries called for the League to intervene, the League had to set up an
emergency meeting, hold discussions and gain the agreement of all members. This process meant
that the League could not act quickly to stop an act of aggression.

Other pacts:
Some other peacemaking treaties include Locarno pact, Kellogg-Briand pact and London naval
treaty.
Locarno pact:
Britain entered in to the Locarno pact which could only keep peace in Europe for two years as it
was against the treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations because it guarded the western
frontiers only and left the question for eastern frontiers undecided and shifted its emphasis from
league of nations to the small concert of European powers dominated by Britain. The policies of
Locarno pact were totally based on respective national interests and there were no motives of
keeping world peace and turned out to be a British device to curb French expansionist
tendencies.

Kellogg-Briand pact:
After failures of Locarno pact when French started feeling insecure, they signed Kellogg-Briand
pact and sought out American help. But this pact also turned out to be away from the objectives
of League of Nations and couldn’t provide any help to France or any other nation as only 3 years
after its signing Japan captured Manchuria. As a result to all the failures of pacts the great
powers had their colonies all over the world & were not willing to reduce their armor or stop the
battle of ruling less armed nations. Whenever they came to the conference table for disarmament,
they had their national interest in mind used to safeguard themselves through diplomatic
discussions as to the problem of collective security and there arouse 2 diplomatic problems
(because of traditional diplomacy); the French questions of security & the German questions of
equality of rights.

World War 2:
League of nations turned out to be an instrument of their policy in the hands of the victors till
Hitler finally put an end to it by his attack on Poland in 1939 and World War Two began in
September 1939 when Britain and France declared war on Germany following Germany's
invasion of Poland and when Germany was also in run to win over Russia.

The United Nations - Step towards Internationalism:

The United Nation is present mankind’s latest and only partially successful, attempt ascertaining
some sort of mechanism for world peace. Though the idea of attaining universal peace has never
been achieved in human history. Yet mankind as a whole has never despaired of it, and efforts by
well-meaning persons, and nations or group of nations, have continued to be made. It is an
interesting phenomenon that such momentous efforts have been made usually after some
catastrophic events. After the First World War, the League of Nation came into existence, but it

had the seeds of destruction in its very conception and in its early growth. With a maximum
membership of 59, it remained predominantly a European organization. It made some progress in
economic and social fields, but its demise came with the coming of the Second World War
which it had no power to prevent its important members having openly flouted the principles of
peace. One of the big powers, the United States, did not participate, although it supported the
League’s decisions.

Origin:
The concept of United Nations arouse out of the vision of allied powers in the Second World
War who wished to see some order emerge from the catastrophic circumstances. The two super
powers USA and USSR had clashed in council hall of United Nations in cold war or otherwise
under the shadow of emerging china as third super power.

In 1941 the western allies in concert against Germany started calling themselves as United
Nations. The Moscow declaration in 1943 stressed the necessity of establishing an international
organization for peace and security. Definite plans were made in stages at Tehran in 1943 at
Dumbarton in 1944, at Yalta in 1945. Fifty one nations sent their representatives to San
Francisco conference in 1945 which drafted the charter. And it formally came into existence on
24 October 1945. US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt first suggested the name United
Nations to refer to wartime Allies.

United Nations can be best defined as

“An association of states which have pledged themselves by signing g a charter to maintain
world peace and to cooperate in creating such conditions under which world peace and
security can be achieved”.

Or according to Wikipedia it is stated as

“An international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in

international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human
rights, and the achieving of world peace.”

The charter however does not allow the organization to intervene in the domestic affairs of the
state.

Main organs:
 UN has following main organs through which its present dash members conduct the business of
international quest for cooperation and peace.

General Assembly - The main deliberative organ of the UN composed of representatives of all
Member States. It currently has 192 Member States. The work of the United Nations year-round
derives largely from the permission given by the General Assembly. The subsidiary organs of the
General Assembly are divided into Committees, Commissions, Boards, Councils and Panels, and
Working Groups.

Security Council - Has responsibility, under the UN Charter, for the maintenance of
international peace and security as it is the most important organ by function. It has currently 5
permanent members which are USA, USSR, France, China, UK and 10 non-permanent
members. The additional bodies of Security Council include Standing Committees, Sanctions
Committees, Working Groups, Peacekeeping Operations, International Tribunals and other
informal Committees.

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) - The principal organ to coordinate the economic or
social work of the United Nations and specialized agencies. Voting in the Council is by simple
majority. Each ECOSOC include Functional Commissions, Regional Commissions and Standing
Committees. It has 27 members elected by general assembly. Some of its remarkable
contributions include the assistance programs initiated in 1947 to aid underdeveloped countries
and also the coordination with specialized agencies like ILO, IMF, and FAO etc.

Trusteeship Council - The Trusteeship Council was established in 1945 by the UN Charter to
provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories placed under the administration of 7
Member States, and ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare the Territories for self-
government and independence. By 1994, all Trust Territories had attained self-government or
independence. Its work completed, the Council has amended its rules of procedure to meet as
and where occasion may require.

International Court of Justice - The International Court of Justice, located at The Hague in the
Netherlands, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It settles legal disputes
between states and gives advisory opinions to the UN and its specialized agencies. Its Statute is
an integral part of the United Nations Charter and constitutes of 15 judges. But the court only
takes in view the cases submitted to it and no state can be compelled to refer their disputes to
court which has given advantage to many nations trying to fight for power.

Secretariat - The Secretariat carries out the day-to-day work of the Organization. It services the
other principal organs and carries out tasks as varied as the issues dealt with by the UN:
administering peacekeeping operations, surveying economic and social trends, preparing studies
on human rights, among others.
Besides these there are major organizations within UN which are known as specialized agencies.
They have gone a long way into the question of tackling problems of world import, and have
many concrete achievements to their credit. These specialized agencies are devoted to the work
of economic development and social and cultural betterment of the people of the world and there
are host of other agencies, councils and committees whose memberships has increase to such
proportions. They include:

IMF, IBRD, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and FAO.

Alongside these recently a special committee has been established to study these various
committees and suggest some rationalized structure in the middle of this multiplicity.

UN charter:
The Charter of the United Nations was signed on 26 June 1945, in San Francisco, at the
conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, and came into force
on 24 October 1945. The law of the International Court of Justice is an integral part of the
Charter. The objectives of UN charter were to make nations practice tolerance and live together
in peace with one another as good neighbors, to unite nations’ strength to maintain international
peace and security, to ensure, using principals & methods, that armed force shall not be used,
saving the common interest, and employing international machinery for the promotion of the
economic and social advancement of all nations.

The charter is basically a multilateral treaty among sovereign states, establishing a system of
collective security and providing various ways of cooperation between these states. It embraces
all the three fields in which nations can cooperate; political, economic and cultural. Mutual
discussions and interminable debates are the recognized mode of achieving this cooperation on
international scale. There are provisions against those sanction states that violate the UN
decisions, but this depends on the cooperation of members and particularly the delinquent
members. Indeed some members have persistently carried out on their own policies by ignoring
the pleas of UN. South Africa, Portugal, Israel and India are examples of this recalcitrant brand
among these nations.

UNITED NATIONS and international security:

The United Nations was conceived as an organization for international security, mainly by the
western allies in WWII and one of the main ingredients of international security was the
continued unity and harmony between the big powers of the world. But almost immediately after
the war, harmony of action disappeared and a cold war started between the communist and the
non communist countries. The situation became still more complicated with the rise of small
nations who won their freedom from their worst while colonial masters and the 2 power blocks
tried to get the allegiance of the young rising nations. Power structure underwent a significant
change. Britain and France no longer remained great powers and USA and USSR emerged as
two super powers to dominate the world politics. Emergence of china as the third super power in
the world shook both the super powers and world entered into the phase where two foes were
beginning to see the emergence of the third.

In UN during the first nine or ten years of its existence, quite a few international disputes were
rather successfully dealt with in spite of the bitter debated and play of power politics but in many
cases it has turned out to be an organ of policies of vested interests of big powerful states in
today’s world.

SUCCESS OF UN IN HANDLING THE DISPUTES:

Prominent achievements of United Nations are in case of Iran’s complaint against Soviet Union,
Independence of Indonesia and in Korea’s case.

1. The Russian-Army-In-Iran Case:

Iranian complaints against the Soviet Union for interference were successfully settled.

(1) Background: During World War II, Iran was occupied by Soviet as well by American
and British troops. After the war all withdrew except the Russians. On March 2, 1946, the day
set for withdrawal, the Soviets were still in occupation of northern Iran.

(2) The Dispute: The dispute began over other issues. In January, 1946, Iran placed its
dispute with Russia upon the agenda of the United Nations Security Council. She charged the
Russians with attempting by coercion to obtain oil concessions and with fostering an
independence movement in the Azerbaijan area on the Soviet frontier. On March 19 Iran further
charged the Soviets with staying beyond the agreed date for departure. On March 24 Moscow
claimed that Russian forces had begun withdrawal on March 2 and that it would be complete in
five or six weeks “if nothing unforeseen occurs.”

(3) The Outcome: The Council, after discussing the issue when it first came up, retained it
on its agenda while the parties prepared to come to a direct settlement. It kept the issue there
even after the Russian announcement of withdrawal and after Iran in April requested its deletion
in view of the progress allegedly being made in the direct conversations. By May 6 the Soviet
troops were fully withdrawn (after Iran promised to consider an oil lease – which ultimately
came to naught) and the issue lapsed.

(4) Significance: Undoubtedly Russia was exerting great pressure upon Iran for oil leases
and to detach Azerbaijan. In such circumstances, where pressure is used but not force, it is
peculiarly difficult for other individual states to render aid. Nor did Iran have allies in the West;
yet her territorial integrity was of great interest to the Western nations.

2. The Koreas Case:

The case of Korea was a singular one where the decision of Security Council of UN was possible
only because Russia was absent at the time of voting in the council. This case offered a model
which was later to be used for intervention in other parts of the world thought to varying degrees
and offended under different sets of modalities and objectives. It showed a practical way to meet
responsibilities of UN under the charter in the absence of a multilateral force under the Security
Council for which the necessary agreements between the states had not been reached.

(1) Background: In June 1950, North Korean troops unexpectedly attacked South Korea and
America wanted the invasion immediately brought before the Security Council. At the end of
World War Two, Korea was effectively spilt in two; the south was in the hands of democratic
America while communist Russia and China dominated the north. The United Nations had
already involved itself in the affairs of Korea when in 1947, before partition, it had declared its
intentions that elections should be held for a government for the whole country and that the
United Nations would oversee these elections to ensure that they were fair.

(2) Dispute: United Nations declared that the elections in South Korea had been fair but
declared that the election results from North Korea were not acceptable as they had not been
independently. Both governments claimed the right to govern the other and the actual invasion of
the South by the North took place on June 25th 1950.

(3) Outcome: The Security Council of the United Nations met the same day. The Russian
delegation to the Security Council did not attend the meeting as they were boycotting the United
Nations for recognizing Chiang Kai-shek’s government in Taiwan as the official government for
China whilst ignoring Mao’s communist regime in Beijing. Therefore, the obvious use of the
veto did not occur. At the meeting, America claimed that North Korea had broken world peace
by attacking South Korea. America called on North Korea to withdraw to the 38th Parallel. Nine
out of the eleven countries in the Security Council supported this view. Russia was absent and
one abstained. On June 27th 1950, America called on the United Nations to use force to get the
North Koreans out as they had ignored the Security Council’s resolution of June 25th. This was
also voted for and once again the Russians could not use their veto as they were still boycotting
the United Nations. On September 15th 1950, United Nations troops landed in an amphibious
assault at Inchon. The landing was a huge success and the United Nations effectively cut the
North Korean army in half and pushed them out of South Korea.

(4) Significance: The United Nations now had to formulate its plans because of absentia of
USSR. Sixteen member states provided troops under a United Nations Joint Command. It fought
with the South Korean Army.

One of the notable successes of United Nations was the independence of Indonesia. Prior to this
UN lacked control or influence over the course of military action or the precise purposes for
which if was received i.e. to repel the aggression. With the surfacing of new developments, some
of them being novel in character gave the UN, role in maintaining international security a more
multifaceted character. The new security environment demanded a new role from UN and in
general and security council in particular. The widening UN peace and security responsibilities
included not only traditional peace keeping operations but also election monitoring human rights
observation, humanitarian security peacemaking and peace enforcement. Important UN
operations for peace keeping included:

1. UNFCIP: Peace keeping force in Cyprus consisting of 2200 military

personnel to prevent recurrence of fighting, help maintain law and order and
maintenance of normal condition.
2. UNDOF: Disengagement observer force with 1293 troops to supervise seize
fire situation in Golan Heights area between Israel & Syrian Arab republics.
3. UNFIL: Interim force in Lebanon to assist the government there.
4. UNICOM: Iraq Kuwait observations mission with 460 military personnel to
monitor to monitor Iraq-Kuwait border.
5. MINURSO: Mission for referendum in Syria to oversee implementation of
settlement plan and also supervise cease-fire between Morocco and Polisario.
6. ONUSAL: Observer mission in al-Salvador including 625 personnel to
monitor human rights.
7. UNAVEM: Angola verification mission with 750 personnel to carry out tasks
arising from peace accords for Angola.
8. UNPROFOR: Protection force to ensure peace & security in Yugoslavian
crisis.
9. UNTAC: Transitional authority in Cambodia with 15000 personnel.
10. UNOSOM: Operation in Somalia with 18000 personnel to facilitate
cessation of hostilities, maintain cease-fire in Mogadishu.

Beside these other peace keeping successes include the passing o f resolution concerning Iraqi
government treatment of its own minorities, imposing sanctions on Libya due to her refusal to
hand over the accused in Lockerbie air crash, monitoring the elections in Namibia, Haiti and
Eretria, Provision of humanitarian in Afghanistan, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Sudan and
disarmament of insurgents.

FAILURES OF UN IN HANDLING THE DISPUTES:

United nations have failed to achieve its goal in several cases like Palestine Arab-Israel conflict,
Indo Pak war of 1971 and Kashmir issue also when the questions of Greek came up before the
security council and it could not decide upon the final measures for securing peace, the role of
general assembly became more prominent.

The US led allied campaign against Iraq and the manipulations to secure the interests of west,
Japan’s and indirectly Russia showed the impulse of big powers to maintain regional balance of
power favoring their interests and it was the UN which was made the vehicle to demolish
potential Iraqi power and thus create a sort of demilitarized zone to make war unlikely for a long
time to come. The other instance is in case of crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina where UN
efforts were only limited to humanitarian aid delivery, imposing arms in embargo and effecting a
now fly zone because of involvement of factors such as the important being the US reluctance to
act decisively on behalf of UN because of nature of their relationship with NATO colleagues and
Russia on one hand and the nature of European counties mutual relationship on the other.

The Palestine war case:

(1) Background: After the establishment of Turkey into series of territories, Palestine area
was given to Jews as their new Jewish home promised by Great Britain in Belfour declaration.
The land was occupied by 84000 Jews and 600000 Arabs but after WW2 Jewish population
reached to almost 600000 and this was the crisis time.

(2) The dispute: The problem began when British took decision because of Arab pressure to
limit Jewish immigration to 75000 annually for 5 years and then to prohibit it entirely. After
WW2 Jewish displaced people sought to leave Europe legally or illegally. British rounded them
up and sent them back but Britain’s political & moral position was weak so caught by United
States & Jewish pressure on one hand and Arab pressure on the other, Britain presented this case
in front to UN in 1947.

(3) The outcome: UN assembly met in special session in April 1947 and appointed a
committee in Palestine. After having heard the report, assembly voted 13/33 in favor of partition
of Palestine in Jewish and Arab states with an international regime for Jerusalem.USA and
USSR voted in favor but Britain abstained and the measure barely passed by the necessary two-
thirds vote which made Jews happy but Arabs angered and the fight started in Palestine between
the two nations. The case became worst after the interruption of Egyptian army invading palatine
from the south. Many mediators tried to make agreements between the parties but there was no
idea of enforcing the partition. Britain continued military aid to Arab states and also USA
abandoned the idea of enforced partition after war broke out which she previously supported.
These actions made cross currents that destroyed any serious possibility to make partition or any
other actions.

Recommendations/ Conclusions:
The diversified role of UN during cold war has stirred worldwide debate about the future role of
UN and its correctable behavior. There is a concern on part of some UN members that security
council is expanding its authorities into areas they believe are properly right of general assembly
as happened in case of revolution 688 which determined that the repression of Iraqi civilian
population threatened international peace and security but the council must be representative of
the membership as a whole. It should reflect the power abilities of the real world and not the
yesterday’s. There are arguments that in favor of giving of Japan and Germany a permanent seat
along with India and a Muslim country i.e. Pakistan. There are also demands that the business of
UN should be conducted in such a way that all are heard and not merely as the spectators. There
must also be effective channels to communicate between the permanent & non- permanent
members. One of the ideas is that of cooperative security meaning persuading nations to seek
security with others and not against them which can be done by punishing the aggressor and
hence acting truly on the very idea UN charter rests.

Thus if the UN is to establish an effective arrangement for enhanced post cold war collective
security role, several institutional reforms and collaborative arrangements as mentioned above
will have to be solidified. Peace cannot be established unless various conflicting nations and
ideologies come to some sort of agreement on coexistence and unless some basis is laid for
honorable friendship without resort to war for the settlement of the disputes.

Issues to be settled:

1. One of the major issues to be settled is of disarmament. The super powers must agree on
the limitations of armament and on the strength of their respective armies otherwise there
cannot be solid basis for peace in world. (Book)

2. Secondly dominance of big powers has been a problem. The regional defense and
economic organization should be strengthened so that one power alone has not the
authority in any region to act on its own in disregard of the opinion of the small nations.
For settlement of international disputes if an agreement could be achieved by the peace
keeping force of UN, it would be indeed a most important step towards the attainment of
international security.

3. UN charter is a good document but in practical application of its provisions there have
been certain difficulties. The negative use of veto but USSR has been proved
disadvantageous in many cases. So Vito power should be limited under certain
conditions, given to all equally or be removed.

4. Reducing of industrialization in USA as it affects the whole world through global

warming but this measure is very difficult to be taken as USA has been their current and
main source of budgeting in previous and recent years.

In conclusion it can be said that the future of UN is linked with the developments of its
constituent nation states. Its success depends upon an agreement among big powers on
disarmament, agreement on creating a peace keeping force and on strengthening the existing
economic and cultural organizations established under UN.

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• http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/leagueofnations.htm

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 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Assignment on

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Presented to: Prof Muhammad Sajid

Presented by: Sara Kanwal l1f07bbam0113

Section: ‘A’

Date: 10, August, 2009