Peacemaker’s Revolution

Done by: Farah Al-Dhaheri

ID#: 200619790

COL-240 SEC-002
Instructor: Anne Barrell
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During the 1940’s, there were many settlements, inventions and developments

worldwide. At the first part of the decade, the WW2 occurred . The war created a lot of

damage to other countries. For instance, Pearl harbor was bombed on December 7 th,

1941. The US navy was destroyed and many soldiers were killed which made the

European war into World war. Between 1937 and 1942, there were 18 nations which

vanished as a result of wars. Germans destroyed 10 nations, for instance, Norway,

Austria and Greece which effected the political map. While the 2nd world war was

proceeding, wise judgments happened which was women were persuaded by their

governments to take jobs. Some women worked in industries while others joined the

military. They worked as pilots and nurses, they also created bombs and weapons.

After the WW2, the cold war started and it was between the US and the Soviet Union

and their allies. Then in the 1950’s, 19 nations emerged and were colonized. As a

result of the disappearance of many nations the political map changed again. Many

crises occurred later on, for example, the Cuban Missile crisis, the Vietnam war and

many mass destruction weapons were created and used in the 1960’s. The effect of

the WW2 and the cold war changed the political map. Estonia and two other nations

disappeared in the Soviet Union. People started to search for peace and prevent war.

This lead Franklin D. Roosevelt to form an organization which created peace, security

and helped developing countries. Therefore, the creation of the United Nations after

WW2 in 1945 was morally justified.

Moral philosophers such as Kant and Bentham have created moral theories to

help people judge the morality of their actions. Citizens and leaders should prevent

making conflicts. In Kant’s theory which is called “Categorical Imperative”, he talks

about how people should be fair in their actions. In meaning, anything they do not like

anyone to do to them, they should not do it to others. Even though they are free to

make choices, they must think wisely before doing an action. He also said that, “ If only
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freedom was granted, enlightenment is almost true to follow”. People seek for freedom

to be able to continue their lives in harmony.

One of his statements was that the rulers spend little money on education because they

spend it on the wars past and the one’s coming. Education is an important thing

because it can teach people to think wisely and know that humans must not suffer the

nastiness of conflicts. Rulers should teach their citizens that peace is required.

Therefore, people must get developed and be taught to take the right decisions which

will help prevent some conflicts. Kant measures an action if it is moral by the motive of

the action. If the action’s motive is based on everyone it is morally justified. On the

other hand, Bentham had his own theories which were called “Utilitarianism”. In

Bentham’s view, he thinks that the main things in human beings are “ pleasure and

pain”. His theory that he established which is “ the greatest happiness of the greater

number”, means that when happiness is existed of a large number and there is no

existence of pain it is a moral action. Utility in Bentham’s concept means to make an

action or have a property of something which produces happiness or prevents pain to

someone whose intention are considered for either community in general or a

individual would lead to happiness. Bentham measures an action if it is moral when the

action creates more peace and less conflicts which would lead to more happiness. In

meaning, the less negative actions would create more positive results. This research

paper will show that creating the United Nations is morally right according to Kant’s and

Bentham’s moral principles.

The creation of the new organization would provide people happiness and less

conflicts which measures Bentham’s principle if an action is moral. In 1945, After world

war 2, the United Nations was created and located in New York. The reason for its

creation was the result after the failure of the League of Nations, which was the
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American president Woodrow Wilson’s vision in 1919. President Franklin D. Roosevelt

knew the mistakes which Woodrow Wilson made, therefore he created the United

Nations with improvements. Roosevelt created a new organization because he was

seeking for peace and did not want more wars. A policy or action would be better if it

created “The greatest happiness for the greatest number”, according to Bentham’s

theory. Therefore, one of the purposes of the creating the UN is “to maintain

international peace and security” which will lead to happiness and secure. (The United

Nations, Pg 17).

On 26th June 1945, fifty -one states went to San Francisco to sign the document which

would make them a part of the United Nations. There were five main members which

were USA, USSR, Great Britain, France and China. Communist countries were also

involved in this organization. Before signing the document they had to read the

principles which were given. There were some principles which were very important.

Such as, the association principle which was to accept the Charter obligations

requirements. Members must respect “ the sovereign equality of all members”(United

Nations in the Contemporary world, Pg 7).

Kant’s theory “Categorical Imperative”, has a perspective which evaluates if an

action is moral when the principle which the action is based on could be made

universal. Therefore, some of the principle which United Nations were based on are

morally right according to Kant’s theory. Members of the UN should not use force to win

in an argument and they must come together to go with the UN when they need them.

A member would be evicted if they violated the Charter principles. Therefore, each

member must accept the rule of evicting if any violation was caused because the rule

would be for all members not for any specific member. This law would be universal as

same as Kant’s law, in which any new member must accept the rules before signing the

Charter all which matches the morality of an action. The structure of the Un consisted
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of six main components in the organization – the General Assembly, the secretariat, the

Security Council, the International Court of Justice, the Economic and Social Council and

the Trusteeship Council. In the General Assembly, all Un members states are

represented equally on the law “one state, one vote”. (The United Nations, Pg 23). The

Economic and Social Council duty is to take responsibility under the authority of the

General Assembly and the council helps in developing countries. Meanwhile the

International Court of Justice which is in international law is the most important juridical

organ of the UN. The court has the most authority in making decisions and gives

advisory point of view to the UN and its agencies. It chooses if there was an agreement

between a nation, depending on the voluntary involvement of the states worries.

Therefore, if a condition accepts to get involved in a proceeding, it must suit with

court’s decision. his statement was said in St. James palace where , “The only true basis

of enduring peace is the willing cooperation of free peoples in a world in which, relieved

of the menace of aggression, all may enjoy economic and social security.” (History of

the Charter, para 5). The structure of the UN is appropriate in which it has all the things

which a good institute needs and their actions are moral according to Kant’s principles.

Some people would claim that the creation of United Nations was a non moral

idea because it followed Bentham’s principle where it did not create more happiness

than unhappiness outcomes. The UN interfered in most conflicts after they already got

damaged and made bad judgments. For instance, the Vietnam war started after WWII

and ended in 1975. “The US leaders were worried that an attack on North Vietnam by

the US would create tensions with the Chinese and Russians that would, in turn, lead to

a larger conflict and possibly WW III”. (Leuhusen) Therefore, the UN interfered and

ended the war in the Paris Peace Accord. The UN interfered after damage had already

got the Vietnamese. During the war millions of people died from both sides, therefore,

the help of the UN was late. The soldier’s family and country were unhappy and were in

pain because of the big number of deaths. Vietnamese were destroyed spiritually and
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physically. The UN helped them after the war in putting the country back together

again, provided them security, made them join the organization and much more.

Another example of unhappiness outcomes is when the UN made unwise decisions.

They allowed the US and many other states the permission to attack Afghanistan,

knowing that Afghanistan is a poor country and its military fields are weak. They

started “bombing strikes on the hapless, poverty-stricken country”. (Martin)This also

caused more number of deaths, tragedy and destroyed lands. Therefore, the creation of

the UN helped and cared mostly in adjusting settlements more than preventing wars

and conflicts which could reduce the number of deaths. The lives of people are more

important than anything else in the world because without them there will not be an

existence of a state and the number of population will be low and further more.

According to Strobe Talbott, the Deputy secretary of the state said, “the UN might very

quickly join the League of Nations on the ash heap of history." (Maynes).

This research paper demonstrates that creating the United Nations is by morally

justified according to Bentham’s and Kant’s principles. Even though the UN did not

interfere in many conflicts, it helped in many other things. Such as, the development of

countries, their security, provided peace, ended conflicts and took part in settlements.

The UN helped Vietnam by ending the war which decreased the number of deaths and

joined them in the UN organization. The UN is created “to achieve international co-

operation in solving international problems of economic, social, cultural, or

humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights

and for fundamental freedoms”. (The United Nations, Pg 17). Despite that not all

nations joined the UN, they all wanted peace. Bentham’s theory “the greatest

happiness for the greatest number”, matches the reason of the creation of the UN.

Creating peace would make people happy and relief, therefore, the creation of the UN

institute is morally right according to Bentham’s principle. On the other hand, Kant’s

theory the Categorical Imperative measures if an action is moral when it is universal.

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The UN wants to provide peace around the world because they know that the war will

cause a lot of damage. UN members “develop friendly relations based on respect for

the principle of equal rights and self- determination of peoples, and to take other

appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace”. (The United Nations, Pg 17). The

purpose of creating the UN is moral according to Kant’s theory. In my opinion, the

creation of the UN was very productive in leading to peace and saving people’s lives.

Without the UN lands would be damaged and people would die. Countries got

developed and became independent. UN still has an effective role in the world. It is still

helping countries in their development with the assistance of the US. According to

Franklin D. Roosevelt, “happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative

effort”. Therefore, UN should be proud of their achievements.

Bibliography:

Books:
1) Gareis, Sven , and Varwick Johannes. The United Nation . 3ed. Germany:

Leske & Budrich, 2005.

2) Migst, Karen and Karns, Margaret. The United Nations in the past cold war
era . Colorado: West view press, 2000

3) Prince, Richard and Zacher, Mark. The United Nations and Global security.
New York: PALGRAVE MACHILLAN, 2004.

4) Toye, John and Toye, Richard. The UN and Global Political Economy.
Indiana: Indiana university press, 2004.
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5) Whittaker, David. United Nations in contemporary world. London: Clays

Ltd, 1997

Video:
6) The United Nations documentary video

Websites:
7) Ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli and Richard Layman. 1940's Law and Justice: The
United Nations. March 2008. Gale Group, Inc.<http://www.enotes.com/1940-
law-justice-american-decades/united-nations>

8) Leuhusen, Peter. THE VIETNAM WAR. 15 5 1997. 10 5 2008

<http://www.vietnampix.com/intro2.htm >.

9) Martin, Patrick. US planned war in Afghanistan long before September 11.

20 11 2001. 20 5 2008 < http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/nov2001/afgh-
n20.shtml >.

10) Maynes, Charles W. "What's Wrong At the United Nations?" COSMOS.

1991. 12 May 2008

< http://www.cosmos-club.org/web/journals/1997/maynes.html>.

11) Moncur, Michael. "Quotations by Author." The Quotations Page. 1994.

QuotationsPage.Com. 18 May 2008
<http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Franklin_D._Roosevelt >.

12) Section, UN Web Services. History of the Charter. 2005-2006. 2 5 200

< http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/history/>.

13) White, Matthew. "Goverments in the 1940's." Historical Atlas of the

Twentieth Century. 1999. 17 May 2008 <
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/govt1940.htm >.

14) United Nations. 9 Mar 2008 <http://www.un.org/ >