History of The United Nations

Keen to learn but short on time? Get to grips with the history of the United Nations in next to no time with this concise guide.

The United Nations was created as a response to the suffering caused by World War II. The goal of the organization, as stated in the Charter of the United Nations, was "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." That goal is as vital today as it was in 1945. While other structures of the cold war era have disappeared completely or have undergone major revisions, the UN has gained increasing importance as a collective security response to the challenges that have emerged in this millennium.

The United Nations has been called everything from "the best hope of mankind" to "irrelevant" and "obsolete". With this much-needed introduction to the UN, Jussi Hanhimäki engages the current debate over the organizations effectiveness as he provides a clear understanding of how it was originally conceived, how it has come to its present form, and how it must confront new challenges in a rapidly changing world.

This book traces the origins and early development of the United Nations, one of the most influential yet perhaps least understood organizations active in the world today. Acclaimed historian Mark Mazower forces us to set aside the popular myth that the UN miraculously rose from the ashes of World War II as the guardian of a new and peaceful global order, offering instead a strikingly original interpretation of the UN's ideological roots, early history, and changing role in world affairs.