ABSTRACT
In recounting the history of the United Nations (UN) as a diplomatic entity, it is important to register the times, and purpose, which led to its inception. The two World Wars, 1914–1918 and 1939–1945, which dominated the international political stage of the twentieth century, had their epicentre firmly placed within the Northern hemisphere, and were waged between two powerful blocs of nations which aligned themselves decisively with the North. Both wars were the direct cause of catastrophic destruction and death to these regions and beyond, and led to the belief that all global actors now required, without delay, an institution, which would enable wars to be fought with words, not guns, and conflicts to be concluded within halls, not battlefields. Hence, the powers who reigned on the post-World War II stage, developed many initiatives, one of which was to build an international, democratic institution, which would allow people to negotiate rather than destruct.
