TOPIC – At 75, the UN needs a rebirth
October 24 marks the diamond jubilee of the United Nations. But far from joyous celebration, it is an occasion to sombrely reflect on why theUN is stagnating at 75 and how it can regain its lost lustre. Although much has changed in the international system since 1945, the world body continues to see a tussle between ‘principle’ and ‘power’. On the one hand, the UN represents hopes of peaceful and just world order through multilateral cooperation, abidance by international law, and uplift of the downtrodden. On the other, the institution has been designed to privilege the most powerful states of the post World War II dispensation by granting them commanding heights over international politics via the undemocratic instruments of veto power and permanent seats in the Security Council (UNSC). Arguably, if the great powers of that period were not accommodated with VIP status, we may have seen a repeat of the illfated League of Nations. Keeping all the major powers inside the tent and reasonably happy through joint control over the UNSC was intended to be a pragmatic step to avoid another world war. Presumably, the collective command model of big powers built into the UNSC is one of the reasons why there has been no third world war. But this model has also caused havoc. Almost immediately after the UN’s creation, it was pushed to the verge of irrelevance by the Cold War, which left the UN little room to implement noble visions of peace, development and human rights. It was only in the uncontested post Cold War political milieu, when the liberal sole superpower, the U.S., strode like a colossus, that the UN could spring back to life and embark on a plethora of peacekeeping missions, nationbuilding interventions and promotion of universal human rights. In the U.S.led ‘new world order’ of the 1990s, it appeared as if the problem of ‘power’ cutting out ‘principle’ had been resolved under the benign hegemony of a Washington that would be the flagbearer of UN values. However, that golden age of the UN was too deceptive to last. We are now past the unipolar moment and the ghosts of the Cold War are returning in complex multisided avatars. UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres has labelled the present peaking of geopolitical tensions as a “great fracture”. The phrase ‘new Cold War’ is in vogue to depict the clash between China and the U.S. Tensions involving other players like Russia, Turkey, Iran and Israel in West Asia, as well as between China and its neighbours in Asia, are at an alltime high. The recrudescence of the worst habits of competitive vetoing by P5 countries has prevented the UNSC from fulfilling its collective security mandate. So dangerous are the divisions and their spillover effects that Mr. Guterres has lamented that “we have essentially failed” to cooperate against the immediate global threat of the pandemic.
MEANINGS AND WORDS
Somberly (adverb) – Sad and serious
Synonyms – gravely, darkly ruefully, obscurely, drably
Antonyms – cheerfully, gleefully, elaborately, drolly, chirpily
Luster (noun) – A quality that outshines the usual
Synonyms – sheen, sheen, gleam, gloss, splendor
Antonyms – dullness, daze, dimness, speck, obscurity
Tussle (noun) – Fight or struggle in a confused way at close quarters
Synonyms – struggle, brawl, grapple, wrestle, fray
Antonyms – agreement, harmonize, accord, concur, truce
Abidance (noun) – Acting according to certain accepted standards
Synonyms – compliance, conformity, observance, enforcement, enforce
Antonyms – non-compliance, breach, rebellion, escape, transience
Dispensation (noun) – An exemption from some rule or obligation
Synonyms – permission, immunity, sanction, assent, indulgence
Antonyms – denial, harshness, prohibition, embargo, interdict
Presumably (adverb) – By reasonable assumption
Synonyms – probably, allegedly, possibly, expected
Antonyms – unlikely, harshly, hardly
Havoc (noun) – Violent and needless disturbance
Synonyms – chaos, destruction, mayhem, desolation, turmoil
Antonyms – resurrection, calm, tranquility, cosmos, combination
Verge (noun) – The limit beyond which something happens or changes
Synonyms – edge, margin, brink, periphery, scepter
Antonyms – middle, retreat, cunt, cooze
Strode (noun) – To walk with long steps
Synonyms – pace, advanced, crotch, galloped
Antonyms – doddered, shambled
Benign (adjective) – Not dangerous to health
Synonyms – kind, benevolent, genial, compassionate, gracious
Antonyms – hostile, malignant, harsh, baneful, atrocious
Deceptive (adjective) – Causing one to believe what is not true or fail to believe what is true
Synonyms – misleading, deceitful, fraudulent, specious, cunning
Antonyms – honest, naïve, reliable, forthright, candid
Vogue (noun) – The popular taste at a given time
Synonyms – fashion, rage, mania, fad, obsession
Antonyms – unfashionable, tawdry, abysmal, shabby, dowdy
Recrudescence (noun) – A return of something after a period of abatement
Synonyms – atavism, recurrence, reversion, lapse, retroflection
Antonyms – sequence, leaving
Lamented (noun) – Grief or sorrow expressed in complaints or cries
Synonyms – mourn, grieve, bemoan, regret, bewail
Antonyms – rejoice, triumph, compliment, elation, elevate
