The United Nations: A Pillar of Global Peace and Security

Few organisations shape the modern world as quietly and as widely as the United Nations. From negotiating ceasefires in war-torn regions to delivering food during famines, the UN works across borders to keep the world a little more stable than it would otherwise be. For students of political science, understanding the UN is essential because it sits at the centre of how nations cooperate, manage conflict, and respond to crises that no single country can solve alone. This post explains how the organisation came into being, what it actually does, and why its work in peacekeeping and humanitarian relief continues to matter.

Why the world needed the United Nations 🔗

The United Nations was created in 1945, following the devastation of the Second World War, with one central mission: the maintenance of international peace and security. Its founding document, the UN Charter, was signed in San Francisco in June 1945 by representatives of 50 nations and came into force on 24 October that year, a date now marked as United Nations Day.

The UN was not the first attempt at global cooperation. After the First World War, the League of Nations was established to keep the peace, but it failed to retain the membership of certain major powers and lacked the authority to prevent or stop hostilities. The founders of the UN studied these weaknesses carefully. They designed a body with broader powers, a clearer decision-making structure, and a binding charter that member states agree to uphold when they join.

The purposes and structure of the UN 🔗

When countries join the United Nations, they accept the obligations of the Charter, an international treaty that lays out the basic principles of relations between states. According to the Charter, the UN has four core purposes: to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations, to help solve international problems and promote respect for human rights, and to act as a centre for harmonising the actions of nations toward these shared goals.

The principal organs 🔗

The UN carries out its work through six main bodies, most of which were established in 1945. The General Assembly is the main deliberative body, where every member state has one vote. The Security Council has primary responsibility for international peace and security and is made up of 15 members, five of them permanent (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) and ten elected for two-year terms. The remaining organs are the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat headed by the Secretary-General, the International Court of Justice, and the now-dormant Trusteeship Council.

This structure matters because it explains both the strengths and the limits of the organisation. Decisions of the Security Council are binding on all members, which gives the UN real authority. At the same time, each of the five permanent members holds a veto, which means a single power can block action even when most of the world disagrees. This tension between authority and gridlock runs through much of the UN’s history.

Peacekeeping: the UN on the ground 🔗

Peacekeeping is perhaps the most visible expression of the UN’s mission. It involves deploying military personnel, police, and civilian staff to regions emerging from conflict, where they help fragile peace agreements survive. The first UN peacekeeping mission was established in May 1948, when military observers were sent to the Middle East to monitor the armistice between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

What peacekeepers actually do 🔗

Modern peacekeeping has grown into a multidimensional task that goes well beyond simply separating armies. The main responsibilities usually include several overlapping elements:

• Ceasefire monitoring: Peacekeepers observe buffer zones and report violations to stop fighting from breaking out again.
• Protection of civilians: They are authorised to use force when necessary to shield people facing imminent threats.
• Supporting governance and elections: They help organise elections and rebuild local administrative and judicial institutions.
• Disarmament and reintegration: They assist former combatants in returning to civilian life.

Together, these tasks help a country move from the chaos of war toward stable, self-governing institutions. The UN describes peacekeeping as one of the most effective tools it has to help nations navigate the difficult path from conflict to lasting peace.

India and UN peacekeeping 🔗

India’s relationship with UN peacekeeping is long and distinguished, which makes it a particularly relevant case for students here. India is among the largest contributors of uniformed personnel in the history of the organisation. According to the Press Information Bureau, India has sent over 290,000 peacekeepers to more than 50 missions worldwide since the 1950s, with thousands of troops currently serving in active missions.

This commitment has come at a real cost. Nearly 180 Indian peacekeepers have lost their lives in the line of duty, among the highest of any contributing nation. India has also been a pioneer in deploying women in peacekeeping roles. The UN notes that as early as 1960, women serving in the Indian Armed Forces Medical Services were deployed to the Congo, and India later contributed the first all-female formed police unit. To prepare its personnel, the Indian Army runs the Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping in New Delhi, which trains soldiers from India and other countries.

Fighting hunger: the World Food Programme 🔗

Peace is not built only with soldiers. The UN also tackles the conditions that fuel conflict, and hunger is one of the most dangerous. The World Food Programme (WFP) was established in 1961 by the UN General Assembly and the Food and Agriculture Organisation. It is the world’s largest humanitarian organisation focused on hunger, funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from governments, organisations, and individuals.

The scale of its work is enormous. In a single recent year, the WFP assisted around 97 million people in 88 countries who were victims of acute food insecurity. Its activities range from emergency food deliveries during famines to cash transfers, school meals, and long-term programmes that help communities feed themselves. It is also the UN’s primary instrument for achieving the global goal of ending hunger.

The link between food and peace 🔗

The connection between hunger and conflict is central to why the WFP matters for peace. In 2020, the organisation was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger, to improve conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas, and to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war. Most people suffering severe hunger live in regions torn apart by war, where access to food can collapse overnight. By feeding populations in these areas, the WFP both saves lives and removes one of the triggers that can push fragile societies back into violence.

Beyond peace and food: the UN’s wider footprint 🔗

The UN’s contribution to global stability extends across many sectors. It promotes and monitors human rights, a commitment rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948. It coordinates the Sustainable Development Goals, a shared agenda covering poverty, education, gender equality, clean water, and climate action. Specialised agencies handle health, refugees, children’s welfare, and labour standards, while the International Court of Justice helps settle legal disputes between states. These efforts often reinforce one another, since development and rights protection reduce the risk of conflict in the first place.

Strengths, limits, and the case for reform 🔗

No account of the UN would be complete without acknowledging its limitations. The veto power held by the five permanent Security Council members can paralyse the organisation when those powers disagree, as seen repeatedly in conflicts where action stalled. Critics also point out that the Council’s composition reflects the world of 1945 rather than today’s distribution of power.

This is where India’s position is significant. As one of the largest contributors to peacekeeping and a country representing a vast share of humanity, India has consistently argued that the Security Council must be reformed to include a permanent seat for it and other major emerging nations. Understanding this debate helps explain why the UN, for all its achievements, remains a work in progress rather than a finished institution. Its value lies not in being perfect, but in providing a permanent forum where nations can talk, cooperate, and act together when they choose to.

What do you think? If you were redesigning the Security Council for the present-day world, how would you balance the need for decisive action against the risk of giving a few powers too much control? And do humanitarian efforts like feeding the hungry deserve to be counted as genuine peacebuilding, or are they a separate kind of work altogether?

References

1. https://www.un.org/en/our-work/maintain-international-peace-and-security
2. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/un
3. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Glossary:United_Nations_(UN)
4. https://www.un.org/en
5. https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/india-s-commitment-to-un-peacekeeping
6. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2109587&reg=3&lang=2
7. https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/india
8. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/nobel-peace-prize/wfp-2020
9. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2020/wfp/facts/