It was suggested the United Nations was formed as a response to the "need to conduct international relations on a co-operative, transparent and orderly basis." It was an attempt to build an international community which many hoped would promote global good will which would act to prevent conflict as was seen with the two World War that preceded its creation. For this in itself the UN has relieved praise:.
"the UN has done more than any other institution to build a global vision." .
The United Nations was born into a world of divide from its birth post World War Two in 1945. It was originally an attempt to replicate (but reform) the failed League of Nations set up in a similar world climate of post-war devastation both politically, economically and socially. It may be said that bringing an organisation into existence in such turbulent times will lead to instability and can cut short its effective life span as it struggles to adapt to the changing world. One fundamental criticism of the United Nations has been simply that, that its birth into such an insecure international forum has lead to ambiguity surrounding its existence and failure to adapt as the world progresses away from the post war conditions:.
"the ambiguity of its specific world role, and the failure to change that role as the world has changed." .
One of the fundamental problems that faces and has faced the United Nations as a worldwide organisation has been the divides within it, largely between regions of its member states, often rendering it particularly in the Cold War era in a position of stalemate. The Cold War ensured that matters of international peace were not centred around the United Nations as was originally intended. At this time it was the two major superpowers of the East and West that largely control international peace and security as the battled to avoid nuclear war. As this ended there were major implications as the balance of power shifted.