UN turns 80: Why is it struggling to stay relevant amid rising conflicts and fractured diplomacy?

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The United Nations, a collaborative global dream built into reality out of the ashes of World War II, marks its 80th anniversary this month. There's little to celebrate. read more
As the United Nations marks its 80th anniversary this month, the institution once envisioned as the guardian of global peace finds itself at a crossroads. Beset by geopolitical gridlock, dwindling resources and waning influence, the UN is struggling to stay relevant in a world increasingly defined by conflict, fragmentation and unilateralism.
From its paralysis over the wars in Gaza and Ukraine to looming US funding cuts and delayed reforms, the global body's founding ideals of multilateral cooperation are being severely tested. Now, amid rising tensions and shrinking support, the question is no longer just about the UN's effectiveness but its very future. Even as conflicts rage from Ukraine and Gaza to Sudan and Myanmar, the organisation often watches from the sidelines, paralysed by divisions among its most powerful members.
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'It's not something to celebrate,' said Kazakhstan's UN Ambassador Kairat Umarov. 'This should be united nations not disunited.'
A vision adrift
When 50 nations signed the UN Charter on June 26, 1945, in the wake of World War II, they pledged 'to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.' That founding promise, as Secretary-General António Guterres noted earlier this year, has thus far averted a third world war. But smaller, grinding conflicts have multiplied, and the UN's ability to stop them has sharply diminished.
Its most powerful body, the Security Council, has been largely impotent in the face of war in Ukraine and Gaza, blocked by vetoes and deepening divisions between permanent members chiefly Russia and China on one side, and the United States, Britain and France on the other.
The latest flashpoint — the brief but intense conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States — saw the UN relegated to the role of bystander.
Meanwhile, the very idea of multilateral cooperation is under siege, weakened by rising nationalism, regional blocs, and a resurgent US unilateralism under President Donald Trump, whose administration is undertaking a sweeping review of US engagement with international institutions.
Shrinking budgets, shrinking influence
Trump's funding cuts to the UN have triggered ripple effects. Already, Guterres' reform agenda has led to 20% job cuts across the UN's regular budget operations, affecting staff in more than 60 missions and agencies. Diplomats fear more pain ahead depending on the outcome of the US review expected in August.
The United States remains the single largest donor to the UN. Its retreat, coupled with belt-tightening by other wealthy nations, has hit humanitarian and development programmes hard, even as global needs — from famine relief to refugee protection — grow more acute.
Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group, said this may mark a turning point. 'Everyone seems to be resigned to the fact that you're going to have a smaller UN in a few years' time,' he said. 'And that is partially because virtually every member state has other priorities.'
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Guterres' 'Pact for the Future,' approved last year, aims to reimagine the UN for the 21st century. But implementing change — such as merging duplicative aid agencies or reforming the bloated bureaucracy — will require consensus among the UN's 193 member states, no small feat in today's fractured geopolitical climate.
Enduring relevance or fading legacy?
Despite its troubles, many observers argue the UN remains indispensable.
Former Singaporean ambassador and scholar Kishore Mahbubani credited the UN with preventing World War III and offering small states 'a buffer against occupation or aggression.' He also lauded its peacekeeping legacy, with 71 missions since 1948 — from Cambodia and Sierra Leone to Liberia.
The UN's specialised agencies continue to draw praise. The World Food Programme, UNICEF, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the International Telecommunications Union have had global impact, from feeding millions to monitoring nuclear activity and expanding internet access.
As Guterres said earlier this year: 'The United Nations remains the essential, one-of-a-kind meeting ground to advance peace, sustainable development and human rights.'
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Every September, the General Assembly offers a platform for world leaders. Daily, UN diplomats meet to hash out policy on everything from climate change to gender equality — even if results often fall short.
New York's centrality as the UN's home also enables critical backchannel diplomacy — and, as analysts half-joke, provides prime real estate for global espionage. 'If you were to close the UN, a lot of intelligence people would be deeply disappointed,' Gowan quipped.
Security Council reform: the unfinished agenda
Perhaps no issue illustrates the UN's inertia more than the stalled effort to reform the Security Council. While many agree that Africa and Latin America deserve permanent seats, consensus on how to expand the 15-member body has eluded diplomats for decades.
For John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the UN and ex-Trump national security adviser, the current system is 'probably in the worst shape it's been in since it was founded.' He blames dysfunction in the Security Council and rising global tensions.
Yet for all its shortcomings, the UN still stands unlike its predecessor, the League of Nations, which collapsed amid the rise of fascism and global war.
'The genius of the UN's founders,' said Mahbubani, 'was to give the big powers vetoes, which ensures the UN can survive even if it struggles to act.'
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Ian Bremmer, president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group and an adviser to Guterres, agrees.
'The UN has no army, no independent foreign policy, and limited funds,' Bremmer said. 'But its legitimacy in representing 8 billion people is unmatched.'
So long as the world's major powers stay within its halls, he said, 'every day they stay is a vote of confidence in the UN.'
With inputs from agencies