The United Nations (UN), created in 1945, had the goal of actively maintaining peace within the international community. In the wake of World War II, the world was ready for calm, and there was widespread motivation to create peace as a joint community. However, the world of international politics today is even more complex, thus calling into question the relevance of the United Nations as a governing international body. There are many arguments that highlight the shortcomings of the United Nations, deeming it irrelevant.

The UN too often feels like a relic: slow, fractured, hamstrung by the politics of its most powerful members. It is easy to dismiss the United Nations. The UN is an indispensable organisation because it is the only global forum where all countries can come together to discuss and address common challenges. It is also the only organisation with the mandate and resources to coordinate international action on a wide range of issues, including peace and security, human rights, development, and environmental protection. However, since the UN is a long-standing institution that has facilitated beneficial actions, it is essential to implement structural revisions to adapt this institution to the modern day. United Nations Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjold, once said, “The UN was not created to lead mankind to heaven but to save humanity from hell”. Hammarskjold’s line was not drenched in defeatism; it was realism rather.

But 80 years on, the question returns as to whether the UN really saved humanity from hell. Undercut by financial shortfalls, United States retrenchment, and growing geopolitical divides, can the UN remain a vital stage for global diplomacy or will competing powers shape a world order that sidelines it? The question is not whether the UN has failed, but whether humanity can afford a world without it. The United Nations is widely viewed to be........

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