The UN in a unipolar world and other organisations

After the Cold War, the world became unipolar: the US is the only superpower. Can the UN check its power? Not easily:

• The US is far stronger, militarily and economically, than anyone else, and can act without the UN, as in the 2003 Iraq war.
• Inside the UN its influence is huge: it is the largest single contributor to the budget; the UN headquarters is on US soil (New York); many staff are Americans; it has the veto; and it shapes the choice of the Secretary-General.

Still, the UN matters. It brings the US and the rest of the world into discussion. Other countries can use it to question and modify US policies, and the US cannot easily ignore world opinion expressed there.

Other international organisations:

Not all world bodies are made by governments. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch report on human rights abuses everywhere and campaign for change.

As the world grows more interdependent, through trade, travel, the internet and shared dangers like climate change, the UN becomes more important for its more than seven billion people, not less. It is imperfect, but the world would be worse off without it.