Is the UN an outdated body?

The United Nations is an Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) set up in 1945 to maintain international peace and security after World War II (1939-1945) and was committed to by 51 countries to promote social progress, human rights and higher living standards, which has gradually evolved into a political forum of 193 member nation states in 2014. The UN was founded on the basis of the outdated and unsuccessful League of Nations in 1920 after the events of World War I, the goal being the same as that of the United Nations.

The United Nations logo, based on the Olive Branch which
represents the co-operation of member states in terms of its
security and peacekeeping around the globe.

There are 5 current components of the United Nations; the General Assembly is a proactive deliberative organ, being the only body of the organization whereby every member state has equal representation; the Security Council is made up of 19 members with 5 permanent members (US, France, China, Russia and the UK) which formulate resolutions to peace and security issues, international sanction and military force, a problem being the permanent members ability to veto any resolution; ECOSOC or the Economic and Social Council which co-ordinates the management and activity of the 14 UN socio-economic agencies; the Secreteriat provides results to the UN based on research, studies, information and facilities and the International Court of Justice - the primary judiciary body responsible for the trial of war criminals.

The effectiveness of the UN is frequently called into question by critics, but is the United Nations outdated? Firstly, with a emphasis on the spread of democracy, and more countries embracing the ideology, it's become ever apparent that the United Nations do not operate to reflect this form of co-operation. An example being Jacob Zuma's claims that the IGO is "undemocratic" and might have "by now outlived it's usefulness." There is also significant evidence supporting it's undemocratic nature in the modern day, post World War II. For instance, the only democratic organ of the UN being the General Assembly, all other parts of the organization are based on an unfair voting and power system, mostly criticizing the powerful role role of the US in decision making to flex it's muscles, taking a vitally important stance on international decision making.

On the other hand, the United Nations has been successful in it's contribution to humanitarian aid and initiatives providing help for those in countries with high rates of poverty and struck by disaster with the help of ECOSOC and the World Food Organization (WFO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) this is a way in which the UN is still effective in solidifying the interdependence and co-operation of it's member states, as it promises to provide help to any country within it's sovereignty. Also, the 'Millennium Development Goals' look to help the population and peoples of individual states rather than maintaining power and influence with all countries agreeing to achieve goals by 2015 of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and ensure a global partnership for development. This helps to further develop the support network for the rise of human rights in countries suffering from humanitarian issues, poverty and civil war, spreading the ideology of democracy.

An image showing tents provided by the United Nations to Syrian Refugees in 2013, as they described humanitarian aid
is required for over 7,000,000 people who were under threat by the Al-Assad regime.

 Furthermore, the undemocratic nature of the UN extends into the vetoing power of permanent states on the Security Council. This means that France, UK, China, Russia and the US have the power to dismiss any of the other proposals made by the other 10 members. This is made even more problematic as the permanent members of the council are polarized in their ideologies and their stances on global affairs. For instance, when the Security Council led by the United States was voting on the decision of intervention in Syria during the 2013 Civil War, the opposition was led by China and Russia against the proposal. This meant that ideas that may be important to the security of the countries within  the United Nations cannot be upheld with a veto from only one country. This causes a deadlock in decision making which means that motions are difficult to put forward without rejection.

The United Nations is also a basis for which all countries are interconnected and still interdependent with other countries emphasized by the Cobweb Model, and from a Liberalism viewpoint, this can help to create a harmony of interests within a global scale and reduce the risk of war and conflict, instead looking to negotiations, debates, discussions and sanctions. The UN also benefits from it's status of extraterritoriality which means it's exempt from any local laws which makes for an ease of decision making in some respects and the judiciary of war criminals means that this body works in a way that can help, where local laws cannot.

Ultimately, it is evident that in most instances the United Nations has been unsuccessful or not fulfilled it's goals, clear in the ever increasing prevalence of wars between both civilizations and member states, showing that the main goal of peacekeeping is largely ineffective as involvement in conflict is based on realist ideas of egoism, selfishness and nationalism. However, it could be argued that the UN is still a significant power and constantly evolving in terms of it's regards to soft power and how we must adapt with the rise of globalization and democratization. For instance, the success of the body in terms of it's humanitarian aid, efforts in human rights, equality, education, world hunger and poverty cannot be denied. Based on these aspects is could be surmised that the importance of the hard power of the UN has been taken away by military alliances such as NATO but left a platform for human development.

In what ways has Globalization created the recent war against Islamic State?

Islamic State is a Sunni Jihadist extremist militant group who are currently attempting to establish a 'caliphate' in the Middle East, most recently in Iraq and Syria. A 'caliphate' is a state of Islam led by a supreme political and religious leader known as the 'caliph', thought to be a direct descendant of Muhammad. The brewing war in the Middle East is once again a fight initiated by radicalized Muslims to gain state sovereignty and rise to power. However, the United Nations has categorized ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization to countries including the US, UK, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Turkey and Indonesia. IS is led by 'caliph' Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who is the forefront of the group which began in 1999 using an array of names linked to the organization and is forcing the implementation of Shariah Law along with the ethnic cleansing of different races including that of Kurdish, Yazidis and Christian population.

October 2014: Current extent of Islamic State's occupation of
Iraqi and Syrian cities.

Globalization is often blamed as the reason for the allowance of the rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East and around the world. ISIL are seen as a unique threat to other nations worldwide as they grow in power exponentially with a large pool of resources, weapons and wealth and well as western influences which help to raise the profile and further the Radical Islamist cause. However, is globalisation the real cause for the threat posed by Islamic State?

Firstly, Colonialism is an important term used in reference to the Middle East in past centuries, as great powers in history have moved to colonize and exploit the Middle East for it's opportunities, one of these being the British Empire after the events of World War I left Europe devastated, constant rule over Middle Eastern partitioned states had left the nations to implode and caused resentment of the Middle East upon the Western World. Furthermore, after the ruin caused by three Gulf Wars in the region, Neo-Colonialism was established by the United States and other nations. Neo-Colonialism is an important means of globalisation as it spreads influence and demonstrate power while attempting to exploit a country for it's resources or workers for instance. In the modern day, neo-colonialism is carried out by TNC's and the movement of settlers within an area. This related to Islamic State, as our actions in Iraq, for instance the war in 2003, was largely seen as not to help the Iraqi people from the regime of Saddam Hussein's oppression, but to exploit the country for our own means. Reasons for intervention in the Middle East, when encompassed in terms of realism sees invasion of Iraq as a selfish action only in Western national interest such as the enormous reserves of oil in Iraq known as the 5th largest in the world or as a method of controlling the volatile country. These events in history have caused a stigma for the United States as well as the UK as the world now questions motives for Western democracies going to war in the Middle East, which is often a considerable topic to extremists in Iraq and Syria who threaten US intervention with acts of violence.

ISIS Fighter flying the Islamic State Flag, the "Black Standard"
which claims "There is no God but God, Muhammad is the
Messenger of God."

Secondly, the Islamic State have been seen as revolutionary in how they spread propaganda and encourage recruitment which has been unseen before even in the largest terror groups in the world including Al-Qaeda who  despite having a large amount of wealth were very much out of touch with Western communications. IS have been reported to use social networking and the internet as a platform to spread their message. For example, part of the reason for the abrupt rise of ISIL is down to it's ability to reach all corners of the globe, using YouTube videos featuring beheading to spread fear among the West, war glorifying propaganda to lure Muslims from around the world to the cause and the use of twitter accounts and other forms of computer technology to further spread the message of IS. This is caused by the advancements in technology and the way it has changed the way we communicate both in local terms and internationally. Also, this problem is furthered by the laws and regulations that communications are bound to in relation to freedom of speech and an uncontrolled forum for a population to voice their opinion and impose their views on others. This technology has been used both to recruit and encourage people towards the agenda as well as instilling shock and horror among democratic, peaceful communities.

Immigration and the prevalence of permeable borders around the world has allowed the free movement of people around the world, from different walks of life to migrate across the planet. Although a major part of globalization in recent decades, particularly following the year 2004, including the boosting of economies, multiculturalism and refuge, there are also significant negative impacts caused by the change in demographic around the world in terms of ethnicity. On a smaller scale, migration can cause a change in cultural identity, ethnic tensions and violence. But on a larger scale, immigration has caused problems in history. For instance, in recent years, young people may go abroad as a tourist or a migrant and while in other nations, is radicalized, an example of this being the perpetrators of the London 7/7 bombings who had recently returned to the UK after being sheltered by groups such as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State. This is a common way in which terrorists are able to carry out threats thousands of miles away. Examples of this within Islamic State include the attempted beheading on an Australian Citizen, a threat to the United States Subway System and Street violence in the UK. This works in line with known Islamic extremists working within the states such as the UK. An example being the Cleric Anjem Choudary arrested recently who appeared to be radicalizing Muslims within the UK borders. This shows that there are issues as permeable borders means that ethnic mixing can cause issues along with the unknown origins of the people entering countries of the coalition, the current Islamic State population in the UK is thought to be around 2,500.

October 2014: Where are Islamic State Fighters coming from?

Finally, the spread of democracy over past decades has seemingly gone hand in hand with the spread of globalization, as countries are developing and consolidating their own sovereignty the domination of democratic power has spread with increasing numbers of switched on countries and influencing the public to push for 'people power'. The ideological sectarianism within borders is often detrimental and an instigator of an unstable government. An unrelated example of this is evident in the city of Hong Kong as students protest for introduction of a democratic vote for their leader, this is relevant as it demonstrates how the exposure of the public of an oppressed country are fighting for liberalisation and while they fight for a more fair political system this can cause governmental issues. In the context of the country where IS consolidated it's control in Iraq, the unstable political system faults could be used in the militants' favor. Prime Minister Maliki, the former leader of Iraq is a Shia Muslim who was biased and rewarded the Shia population while pushing down the influence of Sunni Muslims who were favored during Saddam Hussein's rule. Most Sunni's wished for a more balanced cabinet in Iraq, while disenfranchised Sunni fighters became 'freedom fighter rebels' or 'militants'. However, when new Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi took office, the government was unstable and unable to fight off the Islamic State fighters. Furthermore, there are also issues in Syria where the Western countries are unwilling to work with President Al-Assad's regime due to recent tensions caused by his dictatorship style of leadership. This shows how the tensions between democratic states, dictatorships and unstable governments are unable to work together due to the gaps in development of their political systems highlighting a deep running disparity.

In conclusion, the rise of Islamic State has empirical evidence that leads us to the idea that globalisation is the key to their success as a foreign terror organization and their current influence over global politics and worldwide issues regarding communications and technology, spread of democracy, impacts of immigration and neo-colonialism which is drawing attention to the problems in the Middle East once again, for possibly the fourth Gulf War in the past century.