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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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United Nations
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(UN)
International organization which after World War II replaced the *League of Nations. It had its origins in the *Atlantic Charter and in a Declaration of the United Nations; this was signed in 1942 by 26 states, setting out their aims in opposing the Axis powers, Germany, Italy and Japan. In 1945 the Charter of the United Nations was signed by 51 states, considered the founder members of the UN.
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New York was selected as the location for the new organization, and in 1951 the UN moved into handsome new buildings on a riverside location in east Manhattan. Of its various constituent parts the two most important are the General Assembly, in which every member nation (178 in 1993) has an equal vote; and the Security Council, a group of 15 nations responsible for the UN's peace-keeping role around the world. Ten of the nations on the Security Council are temporary members, elected by the General Assembly for a two-year term, and five are permanent. The five permanent members, unchanged from the start, are those nations which took the leading role in the defeat of Fascism in World War II – China, France, the Russian Federation (previously USSR), the UK and USA.
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The UN has played a more active peace-keeping role than the League of Nations, with major military engagements from the Korean War to the Gulf War and with peace-keeping forces establishing a long-term presence in disputed areas such as Cyprus.
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