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Definition: United Nations (UN) from Philip's Encyclopedia

International organization set up to enable countries to work together for peace and mutual development. It was established (June 1945) by a charter signed in San Francisco by 50 countries. By 2000, the UN had 188 members, essentially all the world's sovereign states except for North and South Korea and Switzerland.


United Nations

From The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History
The United Nations is one of the most hotly debated institutions in American politics. Critics portray it as corrupt, ineffective in preventing wars, and a threat to American interests. Supporters argue that such cooperation among nations is necessary in an interconnected world, that the United Nations has had a positive impact around the globe, and that in crisis, it brings world leaders together to talk through their differences. Some conservatives argue that the United States should leave the United Nations altogether, while liberals argue for greater investment in it. The debate between those who wish the United States to act independently in its own national interests and those who see U.S. interests tied to international and global interests has surged back and forth for more than a century. The first crisis occurred at the time of World War I. World War I produced death and destruction on a scale never seen before. Year after year, millions died in harrowing circumstances. By…
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Full text Article United Nations

From Encyclopedia of Intelligence & Counterintelligence
The UN Security Council debates the Cuban Missile...
The United Nations (UN) is a magnet for intelligence collection on political, diplomatic, economic, military and crises-management intentions. Agent networks report on UN and UN-member state activities, UN headquarters personnel, national delegations to the UN, and UN agencies operating in other…
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Full text Article United Nations

From Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable
The successor to the League of Nations as a world organization primarily concerned with the maintenance of peace but with numerous other functions and agencies. It sprang from the Dumbarton Oaks talks (1944) between the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union and was formally inaugurated in…
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Full text Article United Nations

From The Great American History Fact-Finder
International organization formed after World War II that works for world peace and security, and seeks cooperation in solving cultural, economic, humanitarian, and social problems. At the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco in 1945, delegates from fifty nations…
| 197 words
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Full text Article United Nations

From The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History
Leaders of the Atlantic Charter Conference,...
The United Nations is one of the most hotly debated institutions in American politics. Critics portray it as corrupt, ineffective in preventing wars, and a threat to American interests. Supporters argue that such cooperation among nations is necessary in an interconnected world, that the United…
| 3,456 words , 2 images
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The United Nations played a dynamic and important role in the Korean War. Creation of the nascent organization at the end of World War II sparked high hopes among diplomats worldwide about its potential for ensuring collective security and enforcing international law. The resolutions that the UN…
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Full text Article United Nations

From The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin
An organization that includes virtually all countries in the world, with nearly 190 member nations. Its General Assembly, in which each member nation has one vote, guides policies and finances generally. Another important division of the United Nations is the Security Council , in which five…
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Full text Article United Nations

From Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
Founded in 1945 and headquartered in New York City, the United Nations (UN) is an international organization that promotes collective security, human rights, economic and cultural exchange, and humanitarian relief. The organization, with an annual operating budget of more than $13 billion, is…
| 1,427 words
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Full text Article United Nations

From Encyclopedia of Chinese-American Relations
When the United Nations was created at the end of World War II, the United States was trying to build up the Republic of China (ROC) as the major power of East Asia, so that government was given one of the five permanent seats, and the veto power that went with a permanent seat, on the UN Security…
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Full text Article UNITED Nations

From The Encyclopedia of Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories
During World War I President Woodrow Wilson conceived the notion of a League of Nations, organized to keep the peace and mediate global disputes without bloodshed. Wilson lobbied hard for the league and succeeded in winning the cooperation of Europe's leading postwar powers, but isolationists in the…
| 510 words
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Full text Article United Nations

From Black Firsts: 500 Years of Trailblazing Achievements and Ground-Breaking Events Full text Article GOVERNMENT: INTERNATIONAL
Kofi Annan
The first black and the first diplomat from a black African nation to preside over the General Assembly of the United Nations was Ghana's Alex Quaison-Sackey (1924?–1992). He served as president from December of this year through September 1, 1965. He had served as diplomatic trouble-shooter for…
| 653 words , 3 images
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