Key Characteristics of the Existing Post World War Two United Nations Based Liberal World Order

The United Nations (UN) is, perhaps, the world’s most enduring, all-encompassing “global public good”. Its founding fathers included great statesmen like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) of the United States of America who originally suggested the name United Nations as well as Sir Winston Churchill of Great Britain, Maxim Litvinov of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and T.V. Soong who represented pre- 1948 revolution China.

The four of them, representing the Allies during the Second World War, signed the Declaration by the United Nations in 1942. These clearly enlightened, visionary individuals were willing to prioritize global peace and security above all else, never wishing to see a repeat of the totally unnecessary horrors, widespread destruction and millions of deaths and wounded because of World War Two.

The 1942 Declaration was followed by the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco on June 26, 1945, and the creation of the United Nations on October 24 later the same year. None of this would have been possible without the leadership of the United States of America.  Both US President FDR and Harry S. Truman, who followed him, played pivotal roles in the UNs creation. Eleanor Roosevelt was the primary author of the equally inspiring and complementary (to the UN Charter) Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was adopted by consensus in 1948. She was also the first Chair of the UN Human Rights Commission.

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This note was published in India Global on December 2024.