Despite the doomsayers, the United Nations is still open for business

In the early days, the Soviet Union complained about the "tyranny of the majority" because the United States had the numbers in the UN debates. The USSR stood aside from many forms of economic co-operation and refused any international inspection of disarmament agreements. It occasionally refused to pay its subscriptions to the UN.

Then the Third World countries gradually joined the UN and had their own views, many of which did not agree with the US's. The United States, with no hint of irony, then started using the phrase "tyranny of the majority". Many US politicians have said that the "US should leave the UN and the UN should leave the US". Beginning at the time of the Reagan Administration two decades ago, the US started to refuse to pay its full subscriptions to the UN. It also resigned from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The fact is, the UN has a good survival rate. It is important not to confuse the United Nations with the League of Nations. The League was always seen as the "great experiment" - a fragile flower that could die at any time. The United States never joined, the Soviet Union joined late and was later expelled (for its invasion of Finland); the two great powers (the traditional rivals Britain and France) never quite worked out how to co-operate together through an international body. The League was too new and required a different way of thinking than the traditional pre-1914 ways of diplomacy.

The United Nations has lasted well over twice the age of the League; it is the most universal body in world history and, despite bleak predictions, it is as close to being as permanent as anything can be in the unstable world of global politics. As Winston Churchill pointed out: "The United Nations is not designed to get us to heaven - it is designed to stop us from going to hell".

It is now up to governments to honour their commitment to make the UN work as it was intended to do so. The UN is still "humankind's last best hope".

By the way, the Bush Administration has just rejoined UNESCO.