Cosmopolitanism and the UN’s Role in its Realization

Jitendra Deka

(The writer is a postgraduate student at Assam Engineering College,

Guwahati and can be reached at jitend.dek93@gmail.com.)

(UN Foundation Day Today)

John Lennon’s song Imagine sometimes puts the world on the right track through its verses “Imagine there’s no countries/ It isn’t hard to do/ Nothing to kill or die for/ And no religion too” and makes humans feel how the world would have been had there been no ruling system and the greed of power! Well, it is very difficult to handle the spirit when it comes in one’s heart to move barefoot and walk across the international boundaries and feel the aura of world peace.

Well, the imaginative landscape in the world mentioned here is the fundamental identity of the term cosmopolitanism, something which brings humans across the world closer and makes people feel that they are the citizens of the world, rather than being confined to the international boundary of the country they belong to. Although this being an old theory which can be traced to as back as 412 BC, the real practice of it has been quite new – say for the last century, where communication gap across humans got narrowed and technological adventures brought the world closer.

“Building peace after war” – this has been predominant for the last few centuries, where the world was under the monarchial shadow and the expansion of the jurisdiction of a king or of dictators in the later part of the 18th century had been the controlling factor of the world’s prosperity. A day soon so reached that genocide was just a matter of some moment’s command and holocausts remained as the main ground of dictators. But peace was inevitable to prevail. Although the Treaty of Versailles, Paris Peace Conference etc are hailed for giving the final demise to World War I in 1919, the efforts of leaders to bring nations under one league called League of Nations did not last long. The haphazard world strived for peace once again, and the second attempt made by the contemporary world leaders of the middle of the last century had been quite ground-striking which finally resulted in the birth of a new era in the world.

The hammer blow on the milestone they achieved was conceived with the signing of a charter on 24 October 1945 after the end of World War II, which took the lives of more than 60 million people. This charter made the existence of a body called the United Nations (UN) possible, the term being coined by the then US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Today, 193 countries are under the umbrella of the UN, which significantly is the greatest feat it has been endowed with since its birth amidst the Cold War, intercontinental hostilities, and opponents of peacekeeping motives. Thus the idea of cosmopolitanism got a profound and pragmatic aspect, coming out of the bookish language.

The idea of spreading universal brotherhood and considering the world as our home through the motive of peacekeeping by only preventing countries from being involved in wars and restricting continental and inter-continental conflicts is not the UN’s only duty now; rather, the idea of cosmopolitanism or universal brotherhood by being citizens of the globe has been quite vast, which the UN has been facing as a challenge for the last few decades. Here comes the moment of its widespread bifurcation and scattered grouping under one umbrella by keeping the same idea alive – peacekeeping and progressive outlook on Mother Earth.

Today being the day of foundation of the UN, let the challenges the world faces be addressed, be it climate change, terrorism, nuclear weapons proliferation, racial conflicts, malnutrition, or human rights. And, to “transform the future of the globe”, as per the voice of UN Secretary General António Guterres, it is the time to “transcend the borders”.

Thus, the ultimate realization of the term cosmopolitanism is founded on the network of regional peace and harmony as aimed by the UN irrespective of borders. But, as the challenging environment progresses, the UN’s strategic approaches need some more reformed and decentralized view. Here comes the need of the hour, where the UN is supposed to make some cutting-edge development of its administrative framework. Some important nations – although the UN’s views towards all the member countries of the world are equal and unbiased – are deprived of being permanent members of the UN’s Security Council. India (being the largest democracy of the world), Japan (the second largest donor to the UN), Brazil etc are some examples. This having prevailed for more than 70 years now has been a long-felt topic of the debate, despite some major changes in the administrative framework of the UN. It is time for the UN to rethink over the matter so as to show its efficiency, transparency, legitimacy, effectiveness, and representation, which will lead citizens to believe that the UN truly is not under the shadow of some biased opinions and administration.

The most tumultuous wave in the world is that of social terrorism now, which is a reminder of the world’s dark days. Here arises the need of some “unputdownable” stories that set the true picture of dictatorship and halt of citizens’ voice, be it of China or North Korea. The importance of interference of the UN has been vital now, as a single corner’s hostility makes the concept of universal unity futile. Human right is a major issue. Be it Chinese human right activist and Noble Laureate Liu Xiaobo’s death during his imprisonment, Syrian conflict, or the Rohingia issue, all of these show that humanity is in peril.

It is time the UN came up with a more powerful agenda for its peacekeeping motive by taking into consideration all unbiased views worldwide. It is also the duty of the associations based on regional cooperation to come up as counselors of prosperity. Only then would the cosmopolitanism concept prevail, ushering in oneness in the world.