The UN and democracy – how do they interact?

The US disengagement from the international order and the resulting crisis of multilateral bodies raises the question of how such institutions are linked to democracy – or whether they could even serve as tools for dictatorships. “The UN system is not perfect,” says Michael Møller, who was the director-general of the UN Office at Geneva until 2019. “But since its creation after the Second World War, it has brought about a unique level of peace, rights and well-being.” Møller understands why some people today see the Security Council as dysfunctional. However, UN education, food and development projects continue to make a real difference on the ground, he argues. And while the impact of individual UN agencies has decreased over the past decade, Møller says, multilateral structures are still a driver of peace and democracy. Others, meanwhile, believe this success story is under threat. The current “global climate of radical uncertainty” is shaking “long-held assumptions about ...