"We the people of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of a human person, in the equal rights of men and women in nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom."".
Thus is stated in the preamble to the United Nations Charter, declaring the main purposes of the organization itself and setting the standards and guidelines for which international relations would be moderated for the next half century and then some. As the United Nations has grown, other organizations have taken its model of openness, cooperation and debate and employed its tactics towards their own purposes of regional stability. One of the first organizations to employ the larger goals of the United Nations in a more regional-specific environment was what is now known as the European Union. The European Union acts as a forum in which common goals of a region are discussed and worked towards through intergovernmental organizations, agencies, and cooperation; these methods are very similar to those of the United Nations, and in fact, often work to implement the goals of the United Nations in the European region in the most effective way to relieve the burden of the United Nations. As the years progress, the European Union's goals are implemented in different ways to meet the different needs of the community, thus ensuring its survival and growth through the changing needs and world orders. .
In the early 1950's, several European nations converged to sign the Schuman Treaty, which was the birth of a free trade organization of coal and steel of European countries.