This essay describes the general features of the United NationsÆ system of organizations, with some attention to their various functions in international relations.
The United Nations, being neither a world government nor even a world confederation, has had to evolve numerous substructures since its founding in 1945 in order to try to carry out its mandates to preserve world peace and cooperation. It has six major structures, most of which serve as an umbrella over a proliferation of substructure and INGOs that it sponsors; these are the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice (the World Court), and the Secretariat.
The General Assembly comprises all U.N. members, each with one vote. It elects the Secretary-General upon recommendations by the Security Council, controls the U.N.Æs finances, makes nonbinding resolutions on various issues, and elects some members of other U.N. organs. It meets on a regular annual schedule, but also in emergency or special sessions to deal with threats to international peace and security and with other issues of international significance. Its major committees are the Policy and Security Committee, the Special Political Committee, the Economic and Financial Committee, the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee, the Decolonization Committee, the Administrative and Budgetary Committee, and the Legal Committee. There are also half a dozen ôhousekeepingö committees, the International Civil Service Commission, and various auditing and financial advising committees, along with some 75 special committees, three major commissions, and more than 15 other international organizations, including UNICEF, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the World Food Council.
The Security Council has primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. It may identify and take steps to de...