Role of United Nations in regulating conflict & maintaining peace (A-Level Geography)
Summary
TLDRThis video delves into the United Nations' pivotal role as a supranational institution in maintaining global peace and order. Established post-World War II with 51 countries, it has grown to 193 members, excluding Palestine and the Holy See. The UN fosters international law through treaties, exemplified by the Paris Agreement, and addresses conflicts via peacekeeping missions and peacebuilding initiatives. It also reforms institutions, promotes disarmament, and provides humanitarian aid, as seen in its efforts in Mali, including a national action plan against gender-based violence and measles vaccinations. The video promises further exploration of the UN's multifaceted strategies in future content.
Takeaways
- 🌐 The UN is a supranational institution that operates above sovereign states and plays a key role in maintaining global peace and political order.
- 📈 Established in 1945, the UN has grown from 51 to 193 member states, with only Palestine and the Holy See not being members.
- 📝 The UN develops international law and treaties, which are agreements between two or more states or international organizations, based on universally accepted norms.
- 🏛 The UN Charter serves as the foundation for many international treaties, setting the standards for behavior and cooperation among nations.
- 🌳 Treaties like the Paris Agreement aim to address global issues such as climate change by setting targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
- 💥 Some treaties, such as the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, face challenges due to non-participation by major powers.
- 🛡 Peacekeeping is a significant UN role, involving the deployment of military personnel from member states to intervene in conflicts and maintain peace.
- 🏗️ Peacebuilding is a longer-term process that includes repairing relationships, reforming institutions, disarmament, and ensuring fair elections and human rights.
- 👮♂️ The UN assists in reforming institutions like the Malian police force, helping to develop national action plans to address issues like violence against women.
- 🤝 Humanitarian aid is a crucial aspect of the UN's work, providing support during crises, such as measles vaccinations for children in Mali.
- 👥 The UN Security Council plays a vital role in international peace and security, though it will be discussed in a separate video.
Q & A
What is the role of the United Nations (UN) in maintaining global peace and security?
-The UN plays a key role in maintaining global peace and security by regulating conflicts, fostering cooperation, developing good relations between nations, upholding international law through treaties, and engaging in peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts.
What does 'supranational institution' mean in the context of the UN?
-A 'supranational institution' refers to an organization that has authority over sovereign states, as the UN does, operating at a level of governance above that of individual countries.
How many member states are there in the UN, and which states are not members?
-There are 193 member states in the UN. The two states that are not part of it are Palestine and the Holy See (Vatican City).
What is the purpose of international treaties as discussed in the script?
-International treaties are written agreements between two or more parties, such as countries or international organizations, to establish norms of behavior, customs, and morals, often aimed at addressing global issues like climate change or disarmament.
What is the significance of the UN Charter in the context of treaties?
-The UN Charter serves as the foundation for many international treaties, as it outlines the norms and standards of behavior that are universally accepted and are often the basis for treaty agreements.
Can you provide an example of a treaty mentioned in the script and its effectiveness?
-The Ottawa Treaty of 1997 is an example mentioned in the script. It aimed to stop the production, use, and stockpiling of anti-personnel mines. While 164 countries signed it, the absence of major powers like China, Russia, and the USA raises questions about its overall effectiveness.
What is the role of peacekeeping in the UN's efforts to maintain peace?
-Peacekeeping involves the deployment of military troops from member states to intervene in conflicts with the aim of maintaining peace and stability. This is done under the UN's guidance and involves on-the-ground operations.
How does the UN approach peacebuilding as opposed to peacekeeping?
-Peacebuilding is a longer-term process that involves repairing relationships, reforming institutions, disarmament, ensuring fair elections, and implementing human rights, among other initiatives, to establish lasting peace.
Can you give an example of the UN's peacebuilding efforts mentioned in the script?
-The script mentions the UN's involvement with the Malian police force, where they helped implement a three-year national action plan to address issues of violence against women, particularly sexual violence.
What is the significance of humanitarian aid in the UN's operations?
-Humanitarian aid is a critical aspect of the UN's work, providing essential support during crises, such as measles vaccinations in Mali, to protect and improve the lives of people affected by conflicts or disasters.
What is the UN Security Council, and why is it significant?
-The UN Security Council is one of the six main organs of the UN, responsible for maintaining international peace and security. It has significant power, including the authority to establish peacekeeping missions, impose sanctions, and authorize the use of force.
Outlines
🕊️ The UN's Role in Global Peace and Order
This paragraph discusses the UN's foundational role in regulating conflicts, maintaining peace, and supporting global political order among sovereign states. It highlights the UN's growth since its inception in 1945, its current membership of 193 states, and the main aims of developing good international relations, upholding international law through treaties, and fostering cooperation.
📜 Understanding Treaties and International Law
This section explains the nature of treaties as written international agreements between two or more parties, often based on universally accepted norms and the UN Charter. Examples include the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Ottawa Treaty on landmines, with a discussion on the effectiveness of treaties when major powers do not participate.
👮♂️ The Role of Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding
This part explores the UN's peacekeeping missions, where military personnel from member states intervene in conflicts, and the broader concept of peacebuilding, which involves long-term efforts like repairing relationships between conflicting groups, reforming institutions, disarmament, ensuring fair elections, and upholding human rights. Examples include the UN's assistance to the Malian police force and UNICEF's measles vaccination campaign in Mali.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Supranational Institution
💡Sovereign States
💡International Law
💡Treaties
💡Norms
💡Peacekeeping
💡Peacebuilding
💡Humanitarian Aid
💡UN Security Council
💡Palestine and the Holy See
Highlights
The UN's role in regulating conflicts and maintaining global political order for sovereign states is part of the OCR A Level spec for Power and Borders.
The UN is a supranational institution with governance authority above sovereign states, established in 1945 with 51 countries, now grown to 193 member states.
Only two states, Palestine and the Holy See, are not part of the UN.
The UN develops international law through treaties, which are written agreements between two or more parties.
Treaties are based on universally accepted standards of behavior, customs, and morals, as outlined in the UN Charter.
The Paris Agreement is an example of a treaty aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting global warming to under two degrees Celsius.
The Ottawa Treaty (1997) was signed by 164 countries to ban the use and production of anti-personnel mines, but major powers like China, Russia, and the USA did not sign.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2017) faced a similar issue with key nuclear powers not signing, questioning its effectiveness.
Peacekeeping involves sending military troops from member states to intervene in conflicts to maintain peace.
Peacebuilding is a longer-term process than peacekeeping, focusing on relationship repair, institutional reform, disarmament, and ensuring fair elections and human rights.
The UN helped Mali's police force reform by implementing a three-year national action plan to address issues of violence against women.
Humanitarian aid is a significant role of the UN, exemplified by UNICEF's response to a measles outbreak in Mali, vaccinating nearly 340,000 children.
The UN Security Council plays a crucial role in international peace and security, to be discussed in a separate video.
UN treaties and peacekeeping efforts are not always effective due to the refusal of some member states to sign or abide by them.
The UN's strategies and actions for maintaining peace and security include treaty development, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and humanitarian aid.
The UN's role in maintaining international law and fostering cooperation is essential for global stability and conflict resolution.
The UN's involvement in Mali demonstrates its practical applications in peacebuilding and humanitarian aid in crisis situations.
Transcripts
in today's video i'm going to talk about
the role that the um plays in regulating
conflicts and maintaining peace
and also maintaining the global
political
order in terms of sovereign states
this is part of the ocr a level spec for
power and borders
and i've highlighted the section that it
comes under in free point a
so
first of all we need to know that the un
is a supranational institution which
means it is a level of governance above
that of the sovereign state
uh it started out in 1945
post-war and there were originally 51
countries but it's grown
quite significantly significantly in
power and now is made up 193 member
states only two states are not part of
it palestine and the holy say
it's a very powerful organization and it
plays a very key role in conflict so
there are different ways
in which it tries to maintain
security and peace and
partly this is developing good relations
between nations it also has to try and
develop and uphold international law via
treaties which i'll explain in a second
and for foster cooperation so it's these
are the kind of main aims that it's been
trying to do
and it does this through a variety of
strategies and actions
so i talked about
international law and treaties well a
treaty
is essentially a written
international agreement in which
two or more parties here in this example
france india and the usa
have agreed upon so they they come up
with
an agreement
write it down and then
all agree to sign it
and it's when it's between two or more
states or international organizations
for example the eu can sign into
international
agreements what are just one example of
this that we might talk about before the
paris agreement that was signed by 192
parties and they all agreed to lower uh
greenhouse gas emissions and keep
temperatures below
two degrees of warming
so to actually get a treaty we need to
there needs to be something behind that
so treaties are based on this idea we've
already talked about on norms these
universally accepted standards of
behavior customs and morals and we find
those norms are actually written down
in the un charter so the un charter
obviously is a basis for where a lot of
the treaties come out of
once you actually sign the treaty like
jacob zuma is doing here you actually
are then bound by international law
signed and ratified means that that is a
a law
here's an example of a treaty that was
signed and how effective it was it was
called the ottawa treaty in 1997 and um
lots of the countries all the countries
in the bottom right hand corner they
decided that um to stop
um producing using and stockpiling um
anti-personal mines or what we would
otherwise known as like a land mine so
164 countries uh parties signed it uh
but unfortunately there were some big
countries that didn't sign it so we
could argue how effective is it if some
of the big political powers like china
russia and the usa don't sign it
similarly this was something that was
made effective this year even though it
was signed initially back in 2017 it's a
treaty on the prohibition of nuclear
weapons uh you can see if people are
very happy there unfortunately again it
was one of those treaties in which some
of the biggest nuclear powers the usa
china and russia didn't sign
so even though there are these treaties
some
united nations members can still refuse
to sign them and therefore they don't
have to kind of abide by them
another example of
a role that the un has that is beyond
treaties is the idea of peacekeeping so
this is where we send
military troops member states offer
kind of
military personnel and then they are
sent as u.n peacekeepers to military
intervene
into conflicts these are conflicts we're
going to have a look at in further
detail and further case studies but we
can see that these blue hats are a good
example of troops on the ground trying
to keep the peace
however peacekeeping and signing
treaties aren't the only ways i'm not
going to talk about
all the ways but another significant way
is to talk about peace building this is
slightly a longer term process than
peacekeeping and essentially it comes
incorporates quite a lot of ideas
but some of these ideas are really
important and largely talk a little
about relationships so
it can involve as we can see at this
table here
the un
helping conflicting groups repair
relationships it could be over a
sovereignty challenge it could be due to
a lack of resources or conflict of
resources but getting them to talk to
each other communicate and repair that
relationship
another issue which i'm going to talk
about a second is reforming institutions
so maybe in institutions like the legal
system or police force or army that are
slightly corrupt can be actually
reformed with the help of
un advisers to make them better
disarmament which basically means you
know removing weapons
the idea of getting rid of kind of your
military and kind of lots of the weapons
that you have can actually help promote
peace in the long term another example
would be maybe to ensure that elections
were fair not corrupt not rigged or that
human rights were
actually implemented in a country to
make sure everyone had a fair and equal
opportunity
an example of something that the un
actually involved with which relates to
another case study we're going to look
at is they helped the malian police
force which had some very significant
issues with
violence against women especially sexual
violence against women they came helped
them come up with a three-year national
action plan which you can see some of
the priorities in the bottom left-hand
corner they helped them implement it and
this was an example of an institution
being reformed
in a long-term process by the action of
the un working with the malian police
force
one of the most obvious ways that you
probably already know is humanitarian
aid again i'm going to use the example
of mali
we're going to talk about the conflicts
and challenges of sovereignty about mali
but
the measles vaccinations
after an outbreak of measles there have
been given by unicef so nearly 340 000
children have actually been vaccinated
due to the fact that they've had an
outbreak and um the un and the un
partner which is unicef can actually
give aid to them during this huge
measles crisis
one of the other major roles i'm not
going to talk about now but uh we'll put
a link to another video is the un
security council they have a really
significant and probably one of the most
important roles but i'm going to talk
about that in another video
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