Is the United Nations still relevant?

The question of whether the United Nations (UN) is still relevant has become one of the most pressing debates in modern international relations. The organization is facing a trifecta of severe challenges: geopolitical paralysis, a crippling financial crisis, and a profound crisis of credibility in its core mission of maintaining global peace.

As the UN navigates a critical leadership transition to select a successor to Secretary-General António Guterres (whose second term ends on December 31, 2026), the consensus among diplomats and analysts is nuanced: The UN’s central peace and security mechanisms are deeply broken, but the organization as a whole remains entirely indispensable.

To understand its relevance today, it is helpful to look at both sides of the ledger.

Why the UN’s Relevance is Questioned (The Failures)

Critics argue that the UN is increasingly a relic of a bygone era, unable to adapt to the multipolar realities of the 21st century. The arguments for its declining relevance center on three major issues:

1. Security Council Paralysis

The UN Security Council (UNSC) is meant to be the world’s ultimate arbiter of peace, but it is currently deadlocked. Because the five permanent members (the P5: the U.S., Russia, China, France, and the UK) hold veto power, the Council has been utterly powerless to stop major, catastrophic conflicts. The war in Ukraine, the devastating conflicts in the Middle East, and the brutal civil war in Sudan have raged on with the UNSC unable to enforce peace.

2. An Outdated Structure

The power dynamics of the UN still reflect the world of 1945, when the organization was founded in the aftermath of World War II. Despite decades of debate, there has been virtually no progress on reforming the Security Council to grant permanent representation to rising powers in Africa, Latin America, or Asia.

3. A Crippling Liquidity Crisis

The UN is facing one of the worst financial crises in its history. Many member states—most notably the United States, its largest contributor—have slow-rolled or frozen their assessed and voluntary contributions. This has forced the UN into emergency cost-cutting measures, including hiring freezes, reduced peacekeeping operations, and scaled-back services, severely weakening its operational capacity.

Why the UN Remains Indispensable (The Successes)

Despite these glaring structural failures, defenders of the UN argue that if the organization were dissolved today, the world would immediately have to reinvent it. Its relevance is sustained by several critical functions:

1. Unmatched Humanitarian Reach

While the political arms of the UN grab the headlines for their dysfunction, its specialized agencies perform life-saving work on a scale no other entity on Earth can match. On any given day:

In places like Gaza, Sudan, and Yemen, these agencies are often the only barrier between survival and total societal collapse.

2. The Power of Convening and "The Safety Valve"

The UN is the only universal forum where all 193 sovereign states have a seat and a voice. The opening of the 81st General Assembly session (September 2026) under the theme "Restoring trust, managing transformation" continues to draw almost every world leader to New York. Even during periods of intense geopolitical rivalry (such as the friction between the U.S., China, and Russia), the UN serves as a vital "safety valve"—a neutral ground where adversaries are forced to talk, preventing diplomatic channels from rupturing entirely.

3. Setting the Rules for the Future

The UN remains the premier body for establishing global norms. At the Summit of the Future, member states adopted the Pact for the Future, creating new international frameworks for governing artificial intelligence, managing digital space, and protecting the rights of future generations. While these agreements are largely non-binding, they establish the moral and legal baselines that guide national policies.

A Crossroads: The Race for the Next Secretary-General

The UN is currently at a historic crossroads. The selection process to replace António Guterres has drawn a highly competitive field of candidates—including prominent figures like Michelle Bachelet (Chile), Rebeca Grynspan (Costa Rica), and Macky Sall (Senegal).

There is immense pressure for the next Secretary-General to be a woman (which would be a first in the UN's 80-year history) and to hail from Latin America. The platform of whoever takes office on January 1, 2027, will determine whether the UN can transition from an inward-looking, cash-strapped bureaucracy into a "fit-for-the-future" organization capable of managing the threats of the mid-21st century.

Conclusion

Is the United Nations still relevant? Yes, but its relevance is lopsided.

As a tool for enforcing collective military security and stopping wars among major powers, the UN is largely failing. However, as a global humanitarian network, a forum for crisis diplomacy, and a body for setting the rules of the future, it is entirely irreplaceable.

Perhaps the best summation of the UN's relevance remains the famous quote by its second Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld:
> "The United Nations was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell."

By that metric, even in its highly fractured state, the UN continues to serve its purpose.