Is the United Nations still relevant?

Is the UN Still Relevant?

This question has become the central topic of debate at this very moment — coinciding with the 81st UN General Assembly session in New York (September 2026). There's no simple yes/no answer; the honest assessment is "it depends on what you're measuring."

The Case for "Still Relevant, But Struggling"

The UN General Assembly's own president framed it well this week: people are not asking whether the United Nations still exists—they are asking whether it works.

Where it clearly still delivers: Analysts point to the UN's humanitarian machinery as its strongest remaining claim to relevance. As one commentator put it on NPR this week, its relevance can't be dismissed totally—it is barely still relevant, most importantly because its operational humanitarian agencies are delivering lifesaving assistance to millions and millions around the world.

Its unique convening power: A UN analyst speaking to CNN this week argued the institution's core value isn't enforcement but legitimacy: "At this moment in world affairs, where we have more wars than in previous decades … everyone still needs a place to come together, to deconflict, to hash out the rules of the road," and "quite frankly, the UN is the only organization with the legitimacy, with the legal mandates, the ability to convene every state around the world to actually tackle those things."

The Case Against

Security Council paralysis: The most damning critique centers on the Security Council. Analysts note that the Council faces a deepening crisis of effectiveness and legitimacy, with an anachronistic structure centred around five permanent members with veto powers increasingly unable to address today's conflicts—in 2025, permanent members cast vetoes blocking action on Gaza and Ukraine. Critics also point out that the Council's permanent members represent a minority of the world's people.

Financial crisis: The organization is also in genuine budgetary trouble. The United States owes roughly $1.5 billion in unpaid assessments, with arrears since climbing above $2 billion, while Secretary-General António Guterres has warned bluntly of a "race to bankruptcy," proposing a 15 percent cut to the UN's regular budget for 2026 and elimination of roughly 2,600 posts.

Being sidelined by great powers: Perhaps most tellingly, major powers are increasingly building workarounds. Reports note that as conflicts multiply, Donald Trump has asserted his "Board of Peace" as a potential replacement, exposing familiar paralysis after an emergency Security Council meeting on Venezuela in January. Analysts describe this as the launch of a new U.S.-led Board of Peace as a fairly clear effort to offer a U.S.-dominated alternative to a languishing U.N. Security Council.

Rise of alternative blocs: There's also a broader flight toward smaller coalitions. One recent op-ed observed that rebuilding faith in the UN's complex negotiations-based approach is a colossal job, and rather than turning to the UN, many governments are vying for cooperation through smaller clubs like the G7 and BRICS. That same analysis warned bluntly: if this trend persists, and in the absence of a new covenant between the superpowers, the UN's standing will remain dented, its future uncertain—terminating the 81-year-old organization is no longer an odd thought.

Even Al Jazeera's reporting from this week's Assembly captured the mood bluntly

Experts say the institution is battling an existential crisis of funding, relevance and Security Council gridlock, and the body has been accused of failing to stop what its own experts have said is a genocide in Gaza.

Bottom Line

The UN isn't obsolete, but it's operating well below its founding promise. It remains indispensable for humanitarian delivery, global health coordination, and as the only truly universal forum where 193 states can talk to each other — there's no real substitute for that. But on its core Charter mission (preventing war and maintaining peace and security), the Security Council's veto-driven paralysis has left it sidelined during nearly every major crisis of the past few years, from Ukraine to Gaza to Sudan. Whether it stays relevant going forward likely hinges on whether Security Council reform — something the outgoing Secretary-General has called "absolutely essential" — actually happens, or whether great powers keep building parallel institutions instead.