United Nations

Formed in 1945, the United Nations remains the largest and most important international organization in the world, providing a vital forum for dialogue among virtually all nations. Developed to promote peace and avoid conflict, UN programs help pool global resources to confront challenges such as poverty, health, climate change, and migration, while also providing peacekeepers to conflict zones. Both developed and developing countries have also pushed for reform of the organization to account for the dramatic changes in economic and political power around the world.

Content

New Atlanticist

Sep 24, 2019

Trump defends his foreign policy to the world at UNGA

By David A. Wemer

Trump justified his vision for the United States' role in the world to the UNGA crowd. Here what Atlantic Council experts think it means.

China Iran

In the News

Sep 22, 2019

Cohen in The Hill: The new Kazakhstan president comes to the UN

By Atlantic Council

Central Asia Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Aug 30, 2019

Taking on the temperature

By Kathy Baughman McLeod

Paris is certainly a leader in the effort to confront climate change and has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050; it recently released a comprehensive “urban cooling strategy” to prepare for the extreme heat that has cost lives and livelihoods in the recent past.

Climate Change & Climate Action France

In the News

Aug 22, 2019

Steve Levine in Axios about Russian interferences

By Atlantic Council

Americas Cybersecurity

EnergySource

Apr 11, 2019

Why the massive floating bomb in the Red Sea needs urgent attention

By Dr. Ian Ralby, Dr. David Soud, and Rohini Ralby

A floating storage and offloading (FSO) terminal less than five miles off the coast of Yemen has turned into a massive bomb—capable of explosion due to its contents and lack of maintenance. The risk of explosion increases by the day, and if that were to happen, not only would it damage or sink any ships […]

Middle East Oil and Gas

UkraineAlert

Mar 28, 2019

The Kremlin’s top eight lies about Ukraine’s presidential race

By Tetyana Matychak

On March 31, Ukrainians go to the polls to elect their sixth president. An openly pro-Russian candidate is unlikely to win. However, Moscow is watching closely and cares about the outcome. What is it saying about the election? We analyzed the most widespread Kremlin manipulations about Ukraine’s presidential election on Russian state-controlled media in March. […]

Civil Society Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Mar 18, 2019

Why Ukraine should abandon efforts to criminalize illicit enrichment

By Leonid Antonenko

In late February, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared the criminal code’s article criminalizing illicit enrichment unconstitutional. The response among activists, independent media, and Western embassies was unanimous: the decision was a massive step back for Ukraine. It undid the small but real progress that the country had made toward prosecuting corrupt officials. However, this […]

Corruption Northern Europe

IranSource

Dec 11, 2018

Iran Leans on UN Security Council Legitimacy to Blunt US Pressure

By Noah Annan

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used to denigrate United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions as “worthless paper.” That is not the case anymore. In the aftermath of the US unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal codified by UNSC resolution 2231, Iranian diplomats are embracing this element of international legality to accuse the Trump administration of wrongdoing.

International Organizations Iran

Bremain vs Brexit

Nov 28, 2018

Trump is correct, May’s Brexit deal would make a US-UK trade agreement highly unlikely

By Álvaro Morales Salto-Weis

With his comments, Trump has brought increased attention to a significant weakness of May’s Brexit plan, namely the inability of the UK to craft its own trade policy.

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Oct 10, 2018

The United Nations’ deadly serious call to action on climate change

By David Livingston

The world remains grossly off-track to avoiding deleterious levels of climate change over this century, regardless of whether the target is 1.5 degrees, 2 degrees, or some other arbitrary metric.

Climate Change & Climate Action United Nations

Experts