- Define and explain The United Nations in your own words
- Use key terms such as Security Council accurately
- Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
- Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic
This lesson focuses on The United Nations: explains the UN's founding in 1945 and the roles of the Security Council and General Assembly.
Explains the UN's founding in 1945 and the roles of the Security Council and General Assembly.
Key ideas
The United Nations: promise and limits
Founded in 1945 after the Second World War, the UN aims to prevent another global conflict through diplomacy, peacekeeping and international law. The General Assembly gives every member state one vote but its resolutions are mostly non-binding, while the Security Council can authorise sanctions or military action — yet any of the five permanent members can veto such moves, which is why the Council often deadlocks over major conflicts. The UN's record is therefore mixed: a vital forum and aid coordinator, but constrained whenever great powers disagree.
The EU as a supranational body
The European Union, established in its current form by the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, pools sovereignty: member states share decision-making in areas like trade, competition and the environment, and EU law can override national law in those fields. Its institutions — the Commission, the Council and the directly elected Parliament — blend supranational and intergovernmental elements. Supporters see pooled sovereignty as amplifying small states' influence; critics, including supporters of the UK's 2016 vote to leave, argue it dilutes democratic control at the national level.
Key term — Security Council: The UN Security Council is the body responsible for international peace and security; its five permanent members — the US, UK, France, Russia and China — each hold a veto over its decisions.
Name the five permanent members of the Security Council and explain the veto.
The US, UK, France, Russia and China; each can veto Security Council decisions, blocking action even if all others agree.
Answer: The US, UK, France, Russia and China; each can veto Security Council decisions, blocking action even if all others agree.
- 'The UN can force any country to obey it' The UN has no army of its own and its most powerful body, the Security Council, can be blocked by a single permanent member's veto. Its authority depends on member states' cooperation.
- 'The EU is just a trade deal' The EU goes far beyond trade: it makes binding law, has a directly elected parliament and a court whose rulings override national law in EU competences. That is what makes it supranational.
Practice
When one state's defensive military build-up frightens neighbours into arming too, escalating tension even though no side wanted war.
In 1945, to maintain international peace and prevent another world war.
EU law can override national law in its areas of competence, placing authority above member states.
Unfair: the UN was designed as a forum for diplomacy and cooperation, not a world government; its limits reflect great-power disagreement, but it still coordinates peacekeeping, aid and international law.
Quick check
Which of these best defines "Security Council"?
State two requirements of jus ad bellum.
- The United Nations: explains the UN's founding in 1945 and the roles of the Security Council and General Assembly.
- The United Nations: promise and limits: Founded in 1945 after the Second World War, the UN aims to prevent another global conflict through diplomacy, peacekeeping and international law.
- United Nations: The UN is the international organisation founded in 1945 to maintain peace and promote cooperation, with nearly every country on Earth as a member.
- Watch out for: 'The UN can force any country to obey it'