Is the United Nations still relevant?

Is the UN still relevant? I'll examine its current role and recent performance to find out.

Is the United Nations still relevant? The answer is contested - most experts and global publics say yes, but its relevance has changed and is under strain, and many argue it is indispensable but in urgent need of reform.

The case that it IS still relevant

1. It remains the only universal platform.
The UN is described in its own 75th anniversary declaration as having
>"no other global organization with the legitimacy, convening power and normative impact of the United Nations"

and from an institutional perspective it is still
>"the only universal platform with the mandate to maintain international peace and security"

That universality is visible each September. As one analysis notes, its more than 190 member states, with only few exceptions, send representatives to New York for the UN General Assembly, and the vast majority send heads of state- seen as a clear indicator that it is still viewed as politically relevant and an important platform for shaping international discourse.

Even critics who call it a "talking shop" concede it is a unique forum where governments have to meet, explain and justify themselves.

2. It does work others don't do.
The UN is described as
>"a major actor for the weak and forgotten; and it is sometimes the only actor assisting in certain countries — an institution that is ready and able to go where others are not"

Specifically:

•Humanitarian and development work: "tens of thousands of women and men around the world. Feeding the hungry. Vaccinating children. Promoting development. Protecting civilians in peacekeeping operations"

•Peacekeeping: "Authorizing 71 international peacekeeping missions" and more recently "protecting millions of displaced people and supporting the delivery of life‑saving humanitarian aid". By one count, it sent "63 peacekeeping and observer missions to the world's trouble spots over the past 60 years".

•Climate and health: "Working with 140 nations to minimize climate change". The UN organizes the COP climate conferences, where "The Paris Agreement is the most well-known action from the COPs" formed at COP21 in 2016, and its agency the World Health Organization provided crisis management during COVID-19.

In a 2022 legal perspective speech, the UN Legal Counsel noted that despite doubts, states "in seemingly ever-increasing numbers and from all regions of the world, entrust the settlement of their disputes to the International Court of Justice" including major crises like Ukraine and Myanmar.

3. Global public opinion still favors it.
Most publics hold net-positive views:

•"A median of 61% of adults across the surveyed countries have a favorable view of the UN" in a 25-country Pew survey in 2025

•"A median of 55% have a favorable opinion of the UN" across 37 countries in spring 2026 Pew survey

•Gallup World Poll across 137 countries in 2025 found "A median of 50% across 137 countries approve of the UN's job performance while a median of 26% disapprove"

One analysis summarized: "Most publics in the 25-nation 2025 Pew Global Attitudes Survey hold net-positive views of the United Nations, and several nations—such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Germany—have seen favorable views ... rise", making it still a useful venue for international contestation.

The case that it is NOT relevant / is in crisis

1. Security Council paralysis

The most frequent criticism is the veto power of the five permanent members (P5 - US, UK, France, Russia, China) created in 1945.

•Critics say "The powerful organ of the UN, which is the UNSC is not relevant to the present times. ... They often block key decisions"

•Analysts said the "core cause of paralysis is the Security Council's structure: five permanent members hold veto power that routinely blocks action when their interests are involved"

•The UN "can't enforce the policies it adopts, and its actions often depend on the whims of the Security Council, whose five permanent members opportunistically exercise veto power"

•Former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned of "repeated use of veto by permanent members 'to shield themselves, their allies and their proxies from accountability'"

Because Security Council decisions are binding on all 193 member states, unlike General Assembly resolutions which are advisory, a single veto can block action on major wars.

Examples cited for legitimacy crisis:

•"Of the five permanent members ... one—Russia—has blatantly violated the sovereignty of Ukraine. A second—China—has refused to condemn this violation ... A third—the United States—is seen to have hit a high-water mark in its hypocrisy by providing ... support for Israel's atrocities against Palestinian civilians in Gaza"

•This leads to the judgment that "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"

2. Outdated structure and representation

•"With Africa's 54 nations holding zero permanent seats while filling the Council's agenda, and each P5 member retaining a veto over reform itself, the gulf between moral urgency and structural reality has never looked wider"

•Criticism centres on that "Security Council membership does not reflect today's world; developing countries are underrepresented, and there are no permanent members from either Africa or Latin America"

3. Financial and political retrenchment

Its ability to deliver is "radically diminished by the United States' decision to delay critical budgetary support and put caps on its contributions to UN peacekeeping", plus "Its decision to abandon, by withdrawing from the Paris Agreement ... and the World Health Organization has disrupted progress" on climate and health.

Former officials have noted "Today's multilateralism lacks scale, ambition and teeth — and some of the instruments that do have teeth show little or no appetite to bite, as we have seen in the difficulties faced by the Security Council".

The synthesis: Essential but needs reform

The dominant view in recent General Assembly debates is captured in the headline:
>"United Nations Still Essential but Needs Reform to Be 'Fit for Purpose' in Coming Decades"

Delegates described it as, "notwithstanding its inadequacies and failures, was an indispensable 'family of nations' that had nurtured countries in search of equality, peace and prosperity".

Reform proposals widely discussed include:

•abolition of the veto and its replacement with a weighted supermajority requiring support of states representing a majority of world's population, and expansion to include permanent representation for Africa, Latin America and major Asian powers

•As Ban Ki-moon warned: "Without meaningful reform, ... civilians will remain unprotected and impunity will persist"

In short:

•If relevance = indispensable forum, norms, humanitarian and technical work - the UN remains highly relevant and has no substitute.

•If relevance = ability to stop major-power wars and enforce peace - its relevance is severely limited by the 1945 veto structure, great-power rivalry, and lack of enforcement power.

Most scholars therefore argue not that the UN should be abandoned, but that without structural reform of the Security Council and more reliable financing, it risks irrelevance on the hardest security questions while remaining central on climate, health, development, human rights and humanitarian aid.

Citations (3)

1un.orgGovernment
OFFICE OF LEGAL AFFAIRS The United Nations: is it still relevant?
Backs: “It remains the only universal platform. The UN is described in its own 75th anniversary declaration as having. "no other global organization with the legitimacy, convening power and normative impact of the United Nations"”
2globalaffairs.orgNonprofits and think tanks
The UN is Turning 80. Is It Still Relevant?
Backs: “"the only universal platform with the mandate to maintain international peace and security". That universality is visible each September. As one analysis notes, its more than 190 member states, with only few exceptions, send representatives to New York for the UN General Assembly, and the vast majority send heads of…”
3hercampus.comNews and mediaquality 0.71
After 80 years, is the United Nations still relevant?
Backs: “By one count, it sent "63 peacekeeping and observer missions to the world's trouble spots over the past 60 years". Climate and health: "Working with 140 nations to minimize climate change". The UN organizes the COP climate conferences, where "The Paris Agreement is the most well-known action from the COPs" formed at…”