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Student Information Sheet: The United Nations

One outcome of the Potsdam Conference that had an enduring legacy was the agreement on the creation of the United Nations Organization.

The goal of the new organization was to serve as an international body to resolve international disputes among its members and thereby reduce the risks of another major war.

Despite the growing entrenchment of differences concerning Eastern Europe, both the United States and the Soviet Union signed the founding statement at the San Francisco Conference of June 1945.

General Assembly

The new organization's Charter provided for a General Assembly which represented all members of the United Nations.

• Each member, whether a great power or not, was entitled to one vote.

• The Assembly was given the power to discuss a wide range of issues and to approve new members to the organization.

• The Assembly's resolutions were not binding on the members.

Security Council

The real decision-making powers were entrusted to the Security Council. The victorious Allied powers ensured their international supremacy through the creation of Permanent Membership on the Security Council.

• The Permanent Members of the Security Council - Britain, France, China, the United States and the Soviet Union - possessed veto powers which could prevent any action on any issue proposed by the Security Council.

• The Security Council possessed the power to order cease-fires, negotiate, impose sanctions and intervene with force.

The UN had several advantages over its predecessor, the League of Nations.

• All the major powers agreed to join the UN.

• The UN Charter provided for the creation of peace-keeping forces to enforce the decisions of the Security Council or simply to maintain the peace.

In reality, the growing divergence between the Soviet Union and the western powers made effective decision making, within the United Nations, extremely difficult.

• The use of the "veto" effectively prevented the UN from doing anything that might be counter to the interests of any of the Permanent Members.