The UN as Global Police Force and Negotiation Facilitator
This paper evaluates the United Nations as both a global police authority and a negotiation facilitator in the post-World War II era. Drawing on Mingst and Karns (2016), it examines the scope of UN authority, the international problems it addresses, the enforcement tools at its disposal, and its chief structural limitations. The analysis finds that UN authority is largely determined by member states—particularly the United States—and that its resolutions carry limited enforcement power. Despite peacekeeping missions and human rights declarations, the organization has struggled with bureaucratic dysfunction, political infighting, and dependence on powerful nations to act. The paper concludes that the UN's utility depends heavily on member-state cooperation, which remains inconsistent.
- Introduction: The UN's Role in the Post-War World: UN's human rights record and enforcement gaps
- Scope of UN Authority: Member states determine the limits of UN power
- International Problems the UN Seeks to Address: Poverty, health, trafficking, and conflict challenges
- Methods of Enforcement and Persuasion: Peacekeeping missions, resolutions, and charters
- Chief Limitations of the UN: Political dysfunction and U.S. hegemonic interests
- Conclusion: The UN's Constrained Utility: UN effectiveness depends on member-state cooperation
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- Maintains a clear organizational structure by addressing each analytical dimension—scope, problems, methods, and limitations—in dedicated sections, making the argument easy to follow.
- Uses direct quotations from Mingst and Karns (2016) effectively to ground claims in scholarly authority, balancing textbook evidence with current real-world examples.
- Provides concrete examples—UN resolutions on Israel, the Iraq invasion, the Syrian conflict, and Venezuela—to illustrate abstract institutional limitations.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates sustained critical analysis of an international institution, moving beyond description to evaluate why the UN falls short of its mandate. Rather than simply cataloguing UN functions, the author interrogates the power dynamics between member states and the organization itself, showing how institutional design constrains effectiveness.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a clear expository structure: an introductory paragraph frames the thesis and previews the paper's scope; four body sections address authority, problems, enforcement methods, and limitations in sequence; a brief transitional paragraph synthesizes the argument; and a conclusion returns to the founding context before delivering a final evaluative judgment. This pattern suits undergraduate political science writing well.
Introduction: The UN's Role in the Post-War World
As Mingst and Karns (2016) note, the United Nations has played a predominant role in setting the standard for human rights — and it did so in 1948, three years after the conclusion of World War II. However, setting standards is not the same as enforcing them, and the UN's declaration of human rights has been fairly toothless in terms of holding nations accountable through any type of police action. Global police action, when it does occur, tends to come from the United States, which emerged as the world leader among nations in the post-war era. Mingst and Karns (2016) state explicitly that "much of the UN's success in defining human rights norms, monitoring respect for human rights, and promoting human rights has depended on the activities of the growing international human rights network of NGOs — the third UN" (p. 218). UN-led partnerships have not done much to ensure human safety: "the lack of local ownership of programs, inadequate institutional accountability measures, politicization of some programs, and the need for a steady stream of financial resources" have all served to undermine UN-led approaches to serving as a force for good in the post-war world (Mingst & Karns, 2016, p. 268). This paper addresses the issue of the UN's scope of authority, the kinds of international problems it seeks to ameliorate or resolve, its methods of enforcement, and its chief limitations.
References
Council on Foreign Relations. (2012). The UN Human Rights Council: Five things to know. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnX-DTA50xM&feature=youtu.be
DeMarche, E. (2019). 840 million in gold. Retrieved from https://www.foxnews.com/world/russian-plane-in-venezuela-takes-20-tons-of-gold-flies-to-unknown-location-lawmaker-claims
Mingst, K. A., & Karns, M. P. (2016). The United Nations in the 21st century. Westview Press.
Vox. (2017). Syria's war: Who is fighting and why. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFpanWNgfQY&feature=youtu.be
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.