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The United Nations Explained: How Does it ACTUALLY Work? - TLDR News

Explains how the United Nations was created after WWI's League of Nations failed, and how its six principal organs (General Assembly, Security Council, ECOSOC, ICJ, Secretariat, Trusteeship Council) f

Key Takeaways

  • The UN was designed to improve on the League of Nations by building in stronger enforcement mechanisms.
  • Power is distributed unevenly: the General Assembly is broadly representative, while the Security Council's permanent members hold decisive veto power.
  • Each principal organ has distinct, complementary functions covering deliberation, enforcement, economics, justice, administration, and trusteeship.

What the video covers

  • The League of Nations failed to prevent WWII largely because the United States refused to join.
  • The UN Charter was ratified by the five main allies (US, UK, France, Soviet Union, China) and a majority of signatories, and the UN came into existence on 24 October 1945.
  • The General Assembly is the largest UN body, with representation from every member state, and handles international peace, admission of members, and the budget.
  • Important General Assembly votes require a two-thirds majority, while less important votes pass by simple majority; the presidency rotates to smaller states.
  • The Security Council maintains international peace and security with 15 members: 5 permanent (US, UK, France, Russia, China) and 10 rotating members elected for two-year terms.
  • Security Council resolutions are binding, but any permanent member can veto proposals, which often leaves disputes involving the five to customary international law.
  • The Economic and Social Council has 54 members elected for three-year terms and oversees economic, social, environmental, and development matters through 30 subsidiary bodies.
  • The International Court of Justice in The Hague has 15 judges serving nine-year terms and rules on international law, but cannot compel states to appear before it.
  • The Secretariat, led by the Secretary General, runs the UN's day-to-day operations and field missions with thousands of staff.
  • The Trusteeship Council was established to guide 11 trust territories toward self-governance, and has since become largely inactive.

Chapters

  1. 00:00Introduction to the United Nations
  2. 00:45History: From the League of Nations to the UN
  3. 01:47Founding of the United Nations in 1945
  4. 03:19The General Assembly
  5. 04:50The Security Council and Permanent Members
  6. 06:20Economic and Social Council and the ICJ
  7. 07:51The Secretariat and Trusteeship Council
  8. 09:20Conclusion

Answers

Questions about this video

Why did the League of Nations fail to prevent World War II?

The video explains that the League was weakened largely because the United States refused to join, preferring isolationism. Without the most powerful nation participating, the League was ineffective at preventing another large-scale conflict.

How does the veto power work in the UN Security Council?

The five permanent members (US, UK, France, Russia, and China) each hold a veto over any proposal before the Council. This means matters affecting any of the five are usually doomed to fail at the Council level.

What is the difference between General Assembly and Security Council resolutions?

General Assembly resolutions rely on the good faith of member states to carry them out, while Security Council resolutions are binding on all member states. The Security Council can mandate sanctions, peacekeeping, and authorize force.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

00:00
Speaker A
[Music] everyone's heard of the united nations but many don't know how it actually works and facilitates international diplomacy so in this video we'll briefly explain the history of how and why the un was created the principal organs that make up the international body and how they function day to day and if you're interested in more topics about international law and diplomacy then let us know in the comments down below and be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss an upload going forward
00:42
Speaker A
so following world war one countries wanted to avoid a repeat of the horrific global conflict and their leaders formed the league of nations dedicated to preventing the outbreak of further wars as would become catastrophically obvious mere decades later the league wasn't fit for purpose largely because the united states refused to join instead preferring the isolationism advocated by the framers however the us didn't really account for the effects its new status as a major
01:14
Speaker A
power would have on global order if it remained isolated the weakened league of nations was wholly ineffective in its task of preventing another large-scale conflict once again the world was rocked by world war this time with even more disastrous consequences during the final months of the war states came together to create an international organization more effective at preventing conflict and the united nations was born on the 24th of october 1945 the united
01:47
Speaker A
nations came into existence following the ratification of the un charter by the five main allies the united states the united kingdom france the soviet union and china as well as a majority of other signatories on january the 10th 1946 the general assembly met for the first time in methodist central hall in westminster and the security council met for the first time a week later a week after that the general assembly adopted the first u.n resolution establishment of a commission to deal
02:17
Speaker A
with the problems raised by the discovery of atomic energy this committee is composed of the members of the security council and when it's not on the council canada we mentioned the general assembly and the security council but what exactly are they the un has six principal organs that oversee the organization's main functions the general assembly the security council the economic and social council the international court of justice the secretariat and the trusteeship council
02:49
Speaker A
each principal organ is located at the un headquarters in new york with the exception of the icj which is located at the hague in the netherlands the general assembly serves at the largest body of the un featuring representation from each of the member states the assembly is the un's primary deliberative body and the forum before which we see most of the highest profile diplomacy take place as the yearly session features not only ambassadors but plenty of heads of state
03:19
Speaker A
the general assembly primarily deals with questions of international peace admission of member states and the un budget all of which require a two-thirds majority vote while less important votes pass by a simple majority the assembly is led by a president elected for a one-year term the presidency offers a chance for ambassadors from smaller states to lead the world as few states who have boasted a president of the general assembly can be classified as major powers the
03:47
Speaker A
closest candidate for that honor being canada in 1952 instead of being dominated by these major powers the presidency frequently features states like mexico afghanistan liberius and lucia and currently the maldives the next is the security council the council is tasked with maintaining international peace and security and has succeeded at least to the degree that recent wars generally have been contained to the region not global scale the council's membership is limited to
04:19
Speaker A
15 states at any given time with 10 seats rotating and five permanent seats awarded to the five main allies the united states united kingdom france the russian federation and the people's republic of china the 10 rotating members of the council are elected for two-year terms india ireland kenya mexico and norway will rotate out later this year while albania brazil gabon ghana and the united arab emirates will rotate next year the permanent members ironically have gone through a few changes
04:50
Speaker A
themselves initially the soviet union held a permanent seat but the seat passed to the russian federation following the soviet fall the people's republic of china's seat initially was held by the republic of china which still survives as taiwan however following mao zedong's overthrow of xiang kai-shek's national government the united nations eventually expelled the republic of china on october the 25th 1971 and taiwan has since lost even its observer status
05:21
Speaker A
although the general assembly relies on the good faith of member states to carry out its resolutions the security council's resolutions are binding on all member states these resolutions include mandating peaceful resolutions to disputes imposing sanctions participating in a multinational peacekeeping force and authorising to use force when a breach of the peace has occurred or is imminent however the five permanent members each have a veto over any proposal before the
05:49
Speaker A
council so matters affecting any of the five generally are usually doomed to fail leaving affected states to resort to customary international law to solve their disputes moving to more peaceful matters we come to the economic and social council the council has jurisdiction over matters of economy social welfare environment and international development the council has 54 members elected by the general assembly for three years with 18 seats up each year the council currently has 30 subsidiary
06:20
Speaker A
bodies ranging from regional commissions to bodies concerning criminal justice women's rights geographical names and economic social and cultural rights next comes the international court of justice more commonly known as the icj or the hague the icj serves as the un's main judicial body and rules on matters of international law and issues advisory opinions the court is composed of 15 judges all of whom must be nominated by the permanent council of arbitration then
06:51
Speaker A
win elections before both the general assembly and the security council the judges must be from different states and may not hold political administrative or professional office during their nine year terms although the court frequently convenes in its entirety it may form chambers of three judges to deal with particular categories of cases and decisions by the chambers carry the weight of the full court notably the court cannot compel a state to appear before it instead it
07:21
Speaker A
must rely on the state's consent this may be achieved by the parties to a dispute meeting one of three criteria submitting a special agreement to the court being state parties to a treaty that provides the court with jurisdiction over the dispute or having all made declarations of their consent to the court's jurisdiction under the icj statute continuing our tour of the un we come next to the secretariat this body is the boots on the ground organ of the un led by the secretary
07:51
Speaker A
general and responsible for the un's day-to-day business the secretary general is nominated by the security council and elected by the general assembly for a renewable five-year term they're assisted by thousands of un staff members who carry out un missions throughout the world when you see un personnel working out in the field on development or relief missions this is typically the body overseeing their efforts on a day-to-day basis the final principal organ of the un is
08:21
Speaker A
the trusteeship council the council was established in 1945 to provide supervision for 11 un trust territories under the supervision of seven member states the purpose of the council was to guide the territories under trusteeship towards being able to stand on their own as states in their own right the council's rules initially required it to me annually but the council amended its rules to require meetings only when required shortly before suspending operations in 1994 when all the trust
08:52
Speaker A
territories had attained self-government or independence the council remains inactive but when it is active it's composed of the five permanent members of the security council however despite the council's inactive status it continues to elect a president and vice president so that it may be ready for action if called upon the return to the trusteeship council may be on the horizon however as there have been calls to redefine the scope of the council's duties to include
09:20
Speaker A
environmental stewardship though no decision has been taken to this point so that's the un and its principal organs in a nutshell if you enjoy this video let us know your thoughts in the comments down below you can also talk to us on twitter and on our discord server to discuss all things un thank you for watching and we'll see you next time also be sure to subscribe and hit the bell icon to be notified every time we release a video special thanks to our patreon backers who make videos like
09:48
Speaker A
this one possible and if you want to see your name at the end of videos just like these people you too can back us on patreon the link to that is in the description
Topics:United Nationsinternational diplomacyGeneral AssemblySecurity CouncilInternational Court of Justiceleague of nationsUN Charterinternational lawveto powerUN explained

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