International Organisations

International organisations are how countries try to solve problems no single nation can fix alone: war, pandemics, trade disputes, climate change. This chapter of your Class 12 Political Science course (NCERT, Contemporary World Politics) is really about one big question: who makes the rules for the world, and is that arrangement still fair? Here are the clean, exam-useful notes, plus how they connect to what is happening at the United Nations right now.

What is the United Nations?

The United Nations (UN) is the world's largest organisation of sovereign states. It was founded in 1945, at the end of the Second World War, when 51 countries signed the UN Charter at a conference in San Francisco. The goal was to replace the failed League of Nations and build a forum where states settle disputes by talking instead of fighting. Today the UN has 193 member states, and its headquarters is in New York. India was one of the 51 founding members.

The UN's main aims, set out in its Charter, are to:

• maintain international peace and security;
• develop friendly relations among nations;
• promote human rights, development and social progress;
• act as a centre for coordinating the actions of countries.

The six principal organs

The UN Charter created six principal organs. Learning what each one does is the backbone of this chapter.

General Assembly

The main deliberative body, where all 193 members sit and each country has one vote. It debates global issues, approves the budget, admits new members and passes resolutions, most of which are recommendations rather than binding law.

Security Council

The organ with primary responsibility for international peace and security. It has 15 members and is the only body whose decisions are binding on all members. It can impose sanctions, authorise peacekeeping missions and even approve the use of force.

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

A 54-member body that coordinates the UN's economic, social and environmental work and links the specialised agencies to the wider system.

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The UN's main judicial organ, which settles legal disputes between states and gives advisory opinions. Its seat is the Peace Palace in The Hague, in the Netherlands, and it is the only principal organ not based in New York.

Secretariat

The UN's international civil service, which runs day-to-day operations. It is headed by the Secretary-General. Antonio Guterres of Portugal is the 9th Secretary-General, in office since 2017 and now serving a second and final term that runs to the end of 2026.

Trusteeship Council

Once supervised territories moving towards self-government. It suspended operations on 1 November 1994, after the last trust territory became independent, so it no longer meets.

The Security Council up close

The Security Council is the most powerful, and most argued-over, part of the UN. Three facts matter most:

• Five permanent members, called the P5: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. They have held their seats since 1945.
• Ten non-permanent members, elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms and chosen to represent different regions of the world.
• The veto: each of the P5 can single-handedly block any substantive decision by voting no. One veto stops the Council even if every other member agrees.

Specialised agencies and other key bodies

The UN is more than its six organs. A wider family of specialised agencies does much of the practical work.

• International Monetary Fund (IMF): lends to countries in financial difficulty and oversees the global monetary system. It has 191 member countries.
• World Bank Group: provides loans and grants for development projects such as roads, schools and power supply.
• World Health Organization (WHO): the UN's public-health agency, which led the global response during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• UNESCO and UNICEF: education and culture, and the welfare of children.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) sets and enforces the rules of global trade. It began in 1995 as the successor to the GATT, is led by Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and welcomed Timor-Leste as its 166th member in August 2024. Watch one common exam trap here: the IMF and the World Bank are UN specialised agencies, but the WTO is an independent organisation that works alongside the UN rather than being part of it.

India and the United Nations

India has been central to the UN from the start.

• It was a founding member in 1945.
• It is among the largest contributors of troops to UN peacekeeping missions over the decades.
• It has served eight times as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. Its most recent term ran from 2021 to 2022, after it won election with 184 of the 192 votes cast, and it held the rotating Council presidency in August 2021.
• India, backed by many countries, is campaigning for a permanent seat on a reformed Security Council.

Key terms to remember

• Veto: the power of a P5 member to block a Council decision.
• P5: the five permanent members of the Security Council.
• G4: India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, who support one another's bids for permanent seats.
• Uniting for Consensus: a group of countries that opposes creating new permanent seats.
• Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN): the ongoing UN talks on reforming the Council.
• Specialised agency: an independent organisation, such as the WHO or IMF, linked to the UN.

Why this still matters

In 2025 the UN turned 80. When world leaders gathered in New York for the General Assembly's high-level debate, held from 23 to 29 September 2025 under the theme Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights, the birthday came with hard questions. The Security Council, designed in 1945, still hands permanent seats and vetoes only to the victors of the Second World War. Critics argue that a Council where a single permanent member can veto action, even in a conflict it is directly involved in, struggles to keep the peace it was built to protect. That is why Security Council reform is one of the loudest demands in world politics today.

The reform debate: two rival camps

Reform is stuck because changing the Council means amending the UN Charter, which needs a two-thirds vote in the General Assembly and the approval of all five permanent members. Any one of the P5 can therefore block it. Two camps dominate the argument.

• The G4 (India, Brazil, Germany and Japan) want to expand the Council from 15 to roughly 25 or 26 seats, adding six new permanent members, including two from Africa, plus more elected seats. To calm fears about too many vetoes, they have offered to make new permanent members wait 15 years before using a veto.
• Uniting for Consensus, which includes Italy, Pakistan, Mexico and Argentina, rejects any new permanent seats and wants only more elected, non-permanent members.

India's case is strong: it is the world's most populous country and a major economy, and four of the five permanent members have at various times supported its bid, with China the exception. But because reform needs such wide agreement, India is still waiting. Following this debate is one of the best ways to see the chapter come alive. You can go deeper with our full Class 12 Political Science notes, or explore related topics on the Learnacy Hub.

In one line

• The UN, founded in 1945 with 51 members, now has 193 and runs on six principal organs.
• The Security Council's five permanent members hold vetoes, which sits at the heart of today's reform debate.
• India, a founding member and eight-time non-permanent member, is campaigning for a permanent seat.
• The IMF, World Bank and WTO shape the global economy, though the WTO sits outside the UN system.
• In 2025 the UN turned 80, making the question of a fairer Security Council more current than ever.

Sources

1. https://www.un.org/en/about-us
2. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/main-bodies
3. https://www.un.org/sg/en
4. https://www.un.org/en/high-level-week-2025
5. https://theprint.in/diplomacy/what-are-the-reforms-proposed-by-india-its-g4-partners-for-united-nations-security-council/2591808/
6. https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-begins-its-2-yr-tenure-as-non-permanent-member-of-un-security-council-121010101052_1.html
7. https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news24_e/acc_30aug24_e.htm
8. https://www.imf.org/en/about/factsheets/imf-at-a-glance

Key takeaways

• The United Nations was established in 1945 to replace the League of Nations, aiming to resolve international disputes peacefully and foster global cooperation.
• The UN is structured around six principal organs, which handle everything from general deliberation and daily administration to international legal disputes.
• The Security Council is the only UN body capable of issuing binding decisions, though its actions can be entirely blocked by any of its five permanent members using their veto power.
• While organizations like the IMF and World Bank are specialized agencies within the UN system, the World Trade Organization functions as a separate, independent entity.
• As a founding member and significant contributor to peacekeeping missions, India is actively campaigning to become a permanent member of the Security Council.

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