Is the United Nations still relevant?

Is the UN still relevant? I'll weigh its recent impact against today's critiques.

Is the United Nations still relevant? The short answer is: Yes - but its relevance is increasingly contested and uneven.

As the UN marks its 80th anniversary in 2025 - the organization was founded on 24 October 1945 - the debate has intensified. The theme for the 80th session of the General Assembly is "Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights", yet analysts note this anniversary edition is overshadowed by geopolitical crisis and multilateralism under pressure.

Arguments that the UN remains relevant

1. A universal diplomatic platform: Supporters point to attendance. If high-level week is any indication, the United Nations is still relevant. In closing remarks at the 2025 General Debate, President of the General Assembly Annalena Baerbock said that if high-level week is any indication, the United Nations is still relevant. With more than 190 member states sending representatives, many heads of state, it is viewed as politically relevant and an important platform for shaping international discourse.

2. Preventing great-power war: The UN is still relevant if one keeps in mind the core purpose of its founding: to prevent another world war between the great powers. In that narrow but critical sense it has succeeded so far, even as many member nations flout rules.

3. Humanitarian, peace and development work:

•Together with partners, the UN coordinated a $50 billion appeal for the humanitarian needs of 198 million people. In 2024, the United Nations helped to mobilize $25 billion enabling life-saving humanitarian assistance to reach 116 million people in urgent need across 77 countries and territories.

•The United Nations Peacebuilding Fund announced more than $1 billion in support to global peacebuilding and conflict-prevention initiatives since 2020.

•Some 45 countries committed to provide training opportunities, or announced capacity-building partnerships with other nations deploying troops and police.

•Peacekeeping has consistently helped countries transition from conflict to peace — from Cambodia and Timor-Leste to Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia. More than two million women and men have served in 71 peacekeeping missions on four continents since 1948.

•Supporters also note the UN's role on issues no single state can solve alone, including climate governance through COPs and the Paris Agreement, and global health and development.

4. Global legitimacy: Though the United Nations may not be a priority for Americans, the United Nations' image around the world remains favorable. Most publics in the 25-nation 2025 Pew Global Attitudes Survey hold net-positive views of the United Nations.

As former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld said, the UN "was not created to lead mankind to heaven but to save humanity from hell". Without the UN, the world may be hungrier, poorer, less safe, and less sustainable.

Arguments that its relevance is declining

Critics describe a slide into near-irrelevance that continues unabated.

1. Veto paralysis in the Security Council: The veto power of the five permanent members (P5) USA, UK, France, Russia, and China has crippled decision-making.

•Russia blocked UN action during its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its 2022 Ukraine invasion, while the US has often vetoed resolutions on Palestine.

•Similar vetoes have prevented action in Syria, Sudan, Tibet, and Cold War conflicts.

•A single country can prevent a majority of the Security Council from taking any action. For example, the United States routinely casts lone vetoes of resolutions criticizing Israel.

•Last year, the council passed the fewest resolutions in thirty-five years, partially due to four vetoes.

The most fundamental challenge to the relevance of the United Nations is intimately linked to perceptions of its legitimacy. For many, this has been irretrievably compromised. Of the five permanent members, one — Russia — has blatantly violated the sovereignty of Ukraine, while China has refused to condemn it and the United States is seen to have provided seemingly unconditional support for Israel's actions in Gaza.

2. Failure to prevent major conflicts: The UN has been ineffective in major crises such as Ukraine, Israel-Gaza, Syria, and Sudan often reduced to passing symbolic resolutions. The annual September gathering is less important for what the UN does (which is little in the realm of preventing or ending wars) than for what it provides, namely a venue for bilateral meetings — described as Davos for diplomats.

3. Structural and financial problems:

•The UN has failed to evolve. I doubt anyone would design the Security Council in a way that resembles its current iteration.

•Financial dependence on a handful of countries, especially the United States contributing around 22% of its regular budget, makes it vulnerable to political pressures. The United States' decision to delay critical budgetary support and put caps on its contributions to UN peacekeeping has threatened to create a spiral downward.

•It is also criticized for being slow, bureaucratic, and ineffective in enforcement and for putting countries that are abusers of human rights on bodies meant to protect them.

4. Rise of alternatives: The growth of regional and global groupings such as G20, BRICS, SCO, AU, and ASEAN shows states increasingly rely on other mechanisms.

Verdict: Relevant but in need of reform

Most analysts agree the UN remains indispensable for humanitarian aid, peacekeeping, development goals and as a norm-setting forum, but is ineffective as a decisive enforcer of peace and security when P5 interests clash.

Proposed reforms frequently cited include: expand Security Council membership to reflect contemporary power realities, restrict or suspend veto power in cases of genocide, war crimes, or humanitarian crises, diversify and stabilise UN financing, and strengthen peacekeeping with clear mandates and rapid deployment capacity.

As one 80th-anniversary assessment concluded: "The case for multilateralism and global governance is stronger than ever. But, for better or worse, it will have to take place largely outside the UN" unless it reforms — while others argue that in a fractured world, abandoning the only universal institution would leave no alternative venue to pull humanity in the same direction.

Citations (3)

1globalaffairs.orgNonprofits and think tanks
The UN is Turning 80. Is It Still Relevant?
Backs: “In closing remarks at the 2025 General Debate, President of the General Assembly Annalena Baerbock said that if high-level week is any indication, the United Nations is still relevant. With more than 190 member states sending representatives, many heads of state, it is viewed as politically relevant and an important…”
2rauias.comNot yet classified
Why has the United Nations Lost Relevance? - Rau's IAS
Backs: “Most publics in the 25-nation 2025 Pew Global Attitudes Survey hold net-positive views of the United Nations. As former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld said, the UN "was not created to lead mankind to heaven but to save humanity from hell".”
3tomorrowsaffairs.comNot yet classified
The UN’s slide into near-irrelevance continues unabated
Backs: “Without the UN, the world may be hungrier, poorer, less safe, and less sustainable. Arguments that its relevance is declining”