The United Nations, originally formed after the Second World War, was originally a group composed of 51 individual Nations. In 1973 the United Nations formed the Security Council, a select group of five nations in the General Assembly, which is all nations as a single entity. This group represent the forefront of the UN. Currently the United Nations of composed of 193 nations, all part of the General Assembly. Over time more nations became aware of the apparent benefits of the UN and consequently joined the UN. This increase in size of the United Nations has led to a better representation of the greater world view. Individual organisations also are present in the UN, a total of 15 agencies represent unique requirements in the world, from the World Health Organisation to the International Labour Organisation. As an organisation that was created to prevent the act of war, many international crises that were affluently present post cold-war led to mass problems presented to the UN that were dealt with poorly. Therefore although the presence of an international organisation that aims to solve world problems is beneficial, there are times that it fails and can appear ‘outdated’ for the modern world.

On the one hand the benefits of the United Nations is displayed in the success of many peacekeeping missions, where the UN intervenes in a particular critical case, where a country has gone into ruin and is on the verge of political instability. The intervention helped countries amazingly well, where in Liberia violence ended completely after the UN intervened with an all woman peacekeeping force. These successes prove that definitely in some ways the UN is not an outdated concept and organisation.

On the other hand though in Somalia, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, often characterised by ethnic violence, brought new challenges to the UN peacemaking role. Confronted