United Nations in the 21st Century: Obsolete or Indispensable?

Introduction: The Promise and the Paradox

The collapse of the League of Nations in the 1930s cannot be seen as simply the failure of the institution; it is a civilizational tragedy which in fact prepared the groundwork to the carnage of the Second World War. Out of the ruins of that world war, the United Nations (UN) was formed in 1945 and a unique, sacrosanct pledge was captured: to prevent generations to come, the scourge of war. It came in the form of an architectural wonder of diplomacy, devised to replace law of the jungle with a rule-of-law paradigm. But eight decades later, that promise which was meant to be the cornerstone is growing hollow. With artillery resounding through the steppes of Ukraine, and a humanitarian disaster unfolding among the rubble of Gaza, the reputation of the United Nations is facing a siege it has never faced before.

Opponents of the current day often refer to the organization as a remnant of a bygone era as a bloated bureaucracy drowned in the cynical vetoes of its own founders. They describe it as a debating club where platitudes are bandied about where the power of substance lies in other places. This is a dangerously sketchy dismissal. The UN is the only adhesive substance in the broken global system of an interconnected 21 st century, as global warming, pandemics, uncontrolled development of artificial intelligence, and others are all borderless threats that can emerge anywhere in the world. In this way we are faced with a sophisticated paradox: the United Nations might seem to be politically obsolete in high politics (war and security) due to structural paralysis, but relevant in the low politics (humanitarian aid, development, and the promulgation of global norms). Admittedly, it is a broken shield, but it is the shield we have.

The Genesis of Gridlock: A 1945 Design in a 2025 World

To understand the modern day crisis of relevance in UN, one has to break down the very DNA. The victors of the Second World War, mainly the United States, the Soviet Union (since 1991, Russia), the United Kingdom, France and China, had drafted the institution in 1945. These countries have collectively declared the power of veto in the Security Council that is the executive in the UN to themselves and are known as the Permanent five (P-5). This concession itself, at the time, was an expedient acknowledgment of geopolitical reality; the League of Nations had failed, in part, because the great power states like the United States had never even been members. The veto was aimed at making sure that the great powers remained involved.

But one of the mechanisms that have been developed to ensure engagement has become a weapon of paralysis. In 2025, the world will hardly resemble the 1945 geopolitical environment. The rise of the Global South, the economic revival of Asia, and the proliferation of nuclear countries have transformed the world to multipolar but the UN power hierarchy is trapped in amber. Having said that, as Secretary-General António Guterres lamented at the Summit of the Future in 2024, we cannot establish a system befitting our grandchildren based on the one our grandparents established. This is the main obstacle that contributes to the political obsolescence of the UN since this structural anachronism is the main force.

The Paralysis of Power: The Security Council’s Failure

The most incriminating testimony to the obsolescence of the UN is the fact that the Security Council has demonstrated a lack of ability to uphold the international peace and security on many occasions. The Council was envisioned as an international police, but in reality it is more of a stage of geopolitical confrontation. More than 200 vetoes have been practiced since 1945 and all these have served to effectively stifle the collective will of the international community to its own interests or those of their allies.

A clear-cut example of such dysfunction is the ongoing war in Ukraine. In 2022, the Security Council lost its power when Russia as a permanent member began a total invasion of its sovereign neighbor. Russia itself vetoed a resolution denouncing the aggression. This was a failure in the system since the judge in the court was also the accused at the same time. The Council was not able to send peacekeepers, impose ceasefire or secure the principles of territorial integrity.

On the same note, the Gaza crisis (2023 2025) has brought out the preferential morality of Western authorities. In spite of the devastating death toll and a universal outcry of the people, the United States took the lead in using its veto several times to stop the resolutions that sought an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. This is a two-sided hypocrisy of the West who condemns Russian aggression, on the one hand, and protects the acts of Israelis, on the other, which has brought the UN to a standstill in the moral faculties of the Global South. When the organization charged with international security cannot accomplish its duty because of the veto of a superpower, the collective security framework which was formed in 1945 is virtually rendered dead. This paralysis has pushed the countries into the direction of so-called minilateralism, which finds security and economic answers in small, like-minded unions, like NATO, BRICS+, or G20, without involving the UN at all.

The Crisis of Representation and Legitimacy

In addition to the paralysis of operations caused by the veto, the UN also has a significant lack of the legitimacy of its composition. The fact that India remains without a permanent seat in the Security Council, in the 21 st century, is a geopolitical nonsense as the country is the most populated country in the globe and a significant economy. It is also not right that the continent of Africa, with 1.4 billion population and on which the UNSC agenda is dominated by more than 60 percent has no permanent representation. In the meantime, Europe, having a falling number of the world population, holds two permanent seats (the United Kingdom and France) with Russia.

This exclusion has created resentment amongst them. The developing countries see the UNSC as not a peacekeeper in the world but a tool to secure the dominance of the post WWII forces. The African Union adopted the Ezulwini Consensus which requires permanent representation of Africa; however, these demands have remained unaddressed over the years. In his now-famous words, Kofi Annan wrote, No reform of the UN is complete without reform of the Security Council. The UN should not be democratized in its core decision-making body because it will become one more relic, which has no value to the emerging powers that feel robbed of having their own say in a system that will consider them second-rate citizens.

The Indispensable Humanitarian: The Machinery of Survival

However, it would be a fatal intellectual mistake to downgrade the UN simply because of the inabilities of the Security Council. We need to separate the political UN (deliberative body in New York) and the field forces (operational UN). The former is gridlocked, whereas the latter is a human survival juggernaut. The UN is not just a relevant institution in the field of low politics, such as humanitarian aid, development, and technical cooperation: it is indispensable.

When we consider the World Food Programme (WFP), we can note that in 2024 this organization is eager to deliver food to over 150 million people in 120 countries. In war-torn countries like Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan where the government has broken down and the market has failed, the white supply trucks of the WFP are often the only point between the starving populations and the edge of mass starvation. No one country and even the mightiest one, has such a logistics network or the necessary impartiality to be able to supply food at that level during the ongoing war conflicts.

On the same note, The United Nations High Commissioner of refugees (UNHCR) serves as the protector of the displaced in the world. Having displaced over 120 million people forcefully by 2025, the UNHCR provides the legal framework and the physical infrastructure in which to survive. To a Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh or a family of refugees in Jordan, the UN refugee status does not simply mean a bureaucratic label, it means a lifeboat that provides tents, drinking water and security against deportation. Without the UNHCR, such millions will be stateless ghosts who lack rights and recognition in effect making the UN the largest social service provider in the world.

Guardian of the Global Commons: Climate and Health

The United Nations, also, is the indispensable negotiator of the existential threats beyond borders. Climate change is the challenge of our times, and no one can solve it unilaterally Washington, Beijing, or Brussels. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the only platform that 193 states bargain binding targets. The UN owes its existence to the Paris Agreement that aims at limiting warming to 1.5 -degrees Celsius (C). The conference of parties (COP) summits force countries to sit at the same table and be held to account to their international counterparts despite the criticized slow pace of the lengthy process. The center of the debate is the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which provides consensus information to the international climate policy.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is regarded as the nervous system of the global disease control, although its initial actions in the COVID-19-related response have been criticized. The WHO was the one that planned the elimination of smallpox in 1980, which was a successful event that saved hundreds of millions of lives. The organization today organizes the polio fight (now taken by 99% out of the way) and brokering a global pandemic treaty the organization can be better equipped to cope with the next biological disaster. These technical agencies are like the immune system of the globe, they do not make a noise but they work effectively behind the scenes.

The Invisible Infrastructure of Peace: International Law

The United Nations serves the invisible infrastructure of the modern society as well. The global trade and communication rely on norms established by UN specialized agencies. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) ensures that aircrafts can fly across borders without any problems; the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) controls the satellites orbits and radio frequencies and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) controls shipping lanes. Global trade and travelling would be in a mess in the absence of these organizations.

In addition, the legal framework of the international order is supplied by the UN. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) provides a means of peaceful settlement of disputes. The high-profile South Africa v. case that has occurred recently. Israel v. the Genocide Convention is a typical example of the relevance of the Court. Its decisions are not always followed but the ICJ sets a legal and moral standard that legitimizes aggression and demarcates an international society and a lawless jungle. It requires states to argue in the language of law and not brute power.

Peacekeeping: The Blue Line Between Order and Chaos

One of the most important components of the indispensability of the United Nations is the Department of Peace Operations. The Blue Helmets: a special experiment in human history, soldiers do not go to war, but pacify. Although UN failures in Rwanda (1994) and Srebrenica (1995) leave permanent scars on its conscience, it should not overshadow its success.

Countries like Sierra Leone, Liberia, Timor -Leste and Cambodia have been steered out of civil conflicts and into peace by the UN peacekeeping operations. At present peacekeepers, over 70000, are deployed in some of the most dangerous locations in the world such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. They guard civilians, sweep mines and supervise elections. The UN force is the only one that stops a relapse into complete anarchy in many conflicts. These operations cost the world a small fraction of its military expenditure, but are a critical buffer in unsettled areas.

The Financial Crisis and Future Frontiers

The United Nations runs on the edge of financial ruin in spite of its vital roles. The organization depends on evaluated and voluntary donations of the member states, with the biggest donors being United States, China, Japan, Germany, which gives the majority of the budget to the organization. This brings a weak point: he who pays the piper calls the tune. Humanitarian activities can be frozen by political pressures to defund any agency like U.S. threats to UNRWA. To be truly independent, the UN needs a more sustainable and diversified model of financing that would not expose the UN to the mercies of the largest donors.

In the future, the United Nations aims at demonstrating its applicability in new frontiers. In 2024, the so-called Pact for the Future was embraced, addressing the issues of the 21st century governance of artificial intelligence and cyber warfare. By introducing the so-called Global Digital Compact, the UN makes itself the non-partisan arena that can put moral guidelines on technologies that might transform humanity. This flexibility indicates that the institution is not a dead thing as it is an organism that is struggling to survive.

Conclusion: The Necessary Evolution

The issue of whether the United Nations is outdated or irreplaceable provides a very fine response. The Security Council, structurally, is like a dinosaur, an anachronism that is not only outdated in terms of its politics but it is also dysfunctional and threatening. Its failure to prevent war in Ukraine and Gaza shows that the design in 1945 failed. But operationally, United Nations is the life support system of the planet. It rescues millions of lives every year through the WFP, UNHCR, WHO and its peacekeeping forces, and this is the only platform that can offer collective action against existential threats.

The world needs not a weakened United Nations, it needs a strengthened one. The way ahead is difficult and yet essential reforms: the creation of an enlarged Security Council to reflect the multipolar reality, limiting the use of the veto in matters of mass atrocities, and the stabilization of its financial base. As the second Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld famously said, “The UN was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell.” In the 21st century, the UN may be failing to bring us closer to heaven, but in the refugee camps, the famine zones, and the climate negotiation halls, it remains the only barrier standing between humanity and the hell of unchecked anarchy. It is imperfect, frustrating, and flawed—but it is indispensable