1. The United Nations was founded in 1945 with the main impetus coming from the United States and other victors in World War II. One of the main goals was to take steps towards a form of "collective security" to help maintain peace following World War II in which 60 million people died. The structure of the U.N. in many ways reflects the wishes of the victors of WW II. This is most evident by the five nations which have veto power in the Security Council: U.S., Russia (the former U.S.S.R.), U.K., France, and China. 2. The structure includes a General Assembly, a Security Council, the International Court of Justice, a Secretariat, and a number of other lesser known agencies. Most of these other administrative arms of the United Nations have responsibility for peace-keeping (Middle East, former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Haiti), for aid to developing nations, or for a variety of tasks ranging from managing international postal service to coordinating international air traffic control. 3. When the U.N. was founded in 1945, it had only 51 members. That number has presently grown to 185. In the General Assembly, voting is based on a one-nation one-vote system. Thus, a country such as Dominico (with a population the size of University City) has equal voting power to that of China (with a population of 1.2 billion,one-fifth of the planet's population). It is actually possible to form a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly from countries representing only 10% of the world's population and who pay only 5% of the United Nations dues. 4. The cost of operating the United Nations in New York is one billion dollars per year. The U.S. pays $250 million in dues, one-quarter of the entire budget. Yet, this $250 million represents only 50% of the cost of one B-2 (Stealth) bomber. The budget for all United Nations' activities is about $3 billion per year, representing less than two-fifths of one percent of the $800 billion which all nations combined spend on weapons annually. 5. The Security Council has primary responsibility for international peace-keeping. A United Nations peace-keeping force can be formed to enter a conflict only with the consent of nine of the fifteen members of the Council, including all five permanent nations. The most significant conflict in which the United Nations has become involved was in Korea (1950-52). There are a number of other major disputes in which the U.N. has not become involved (such as Vietnam, Nicaragua, Hungary, Czechoslovakia). However, perhaps a true evaluation of how well the U.N. has done in maintaining peace since 1945 is by noting the numerous successes which it has had when nations have been about to engage in war. The United Nations provides a forum for countries to concurrently debate their cases and seek an alternative to war.
1. Model United Nations are experiences in which students take on the roles of representing various nations in the U.N. and engaging in debate and voting about the issues. They can be very significant learning experiences for students because: A-- Students can learn a considerable amount about global awareness. They come to see that there are scores of interests which nations have in the world, and they do not necessarily match the positions of the United States. B-- Studentscan learn a great deal about conflict resolution. C-- Students can learn to take on the roles of delegates from different countries. D-- Students can learn to discuss an issue in a fashion in which there are rules of procedure governing when, how, and under what conditions they may speak. E-- Students can learn to work with others in building coalitions and acting in the form of bloc politics. F-- Students can learn to speak in front of a larger group, enhancing both their speaking and listening skills. G-- Students can learn to have fun in another constructive way. H-- Students can learn better respect for one another.