People often misunderstand colonialism. It wasn’t just a basic acquisition of land over which the countries impose authority and power, but rather extending its influence over victim nations in terms of political and cultural aspects. Hence, colonialism is only a means of imperialism as it is based on influencing colonies, expanding support, and implementation of their practices. This led to the practice of slavery amongst other issues to be accepted globally. United Nations rightfully focused on decolonization in its early years and has successfully diminished it. However, with imperialism, still, a huge part of global politics specifically fostered in organizations such as the United Nations, have really eliminated the drawbacks of colonialism?

Imperialism can be broadly classified into four categories: economic, political, cultural, and military. Colonialism in the past was mainly based on political and military imperialism, however, decolonization has not completely eradicated these two forms. With economic imperialism taking precedence today, the other three types are secondary relations depending on it. Post World War 2 and decolonization, the UN’s framework provided a platform for all countries to unite together and make decisions. This increased connectivity led to the dependency between nations which in return, promoted the economic, cultural and military influence by the Global North over the South. Although United Nation may not intentionally be promoting imperialism, it features indirectly do.

 Veto Power and the Security Council – With the five permanent members of the United Nations (USA, Russia, China, UK, France) having the ability to veto any resolutions, hence giving them extreme power to block any form or resolution based on their preference. The United Nations Security Council allowed this feature to ensure international stability and check-in with the instinct of war. This power has been applauded by the five states who continue to abuse it. Other countries now choose to be imperialized by one of these superpowers to simply avoid confrontation from the UN. Russia routinely vetoes any resolution regarding the Syrian Civil War while the United States blocks reforms aimed at Israel and the other 3 powers conditionally use their veto to “promote their self-interest or geopolitical interest above the interest of protecting civilians” as claimed by Amnesty International. The constant abuse of power allows nations to violate all forms of rights and challenge international peace without any repercussions – executive actions that can only come through UNSC – deeming United Nations ineffective. UNSC reforms will be a key to ending imperialism as this undemocratic procedure is nothing but neo-colonialism.

 General Assembly– Moving to a more democratic part of the UN, one would expect the General Assembly to have no form of imperialism. However, this is where economic and military imperialism really plays a part. Much of the GA consists of Third World and Second World countries which are economically dependent on the developed nations. The developed nations use this dependency to puppet the moves, stance, and voting of these nations in the General Assembly to completely against their own stances. A recent example of such manipulation would be the voting procedure to condemn China for Uyghur Muslim detention camps. Notably, more than 50 countries including countries from the MENA supported China’s stance despite being outspoken about the treatment of Muslims in the West while 23 countries called out China for their actions despite having high rates of Islamophobia and following similar counter- terrorism techniques like China. This can be heavily tied down to Chinese investment in the MENA region and hence, economic imperialism has led to bloc politics in the UNGA which again remains a hurdle in the UN’s attempt to pursue and adopt unbiased resolutions.

Humanitarian aid and soft power politics also play a huge role in increasing imperialism globally. The humanitarian aid projects extended by the EU, China, and the United States are often not intended at restoring peace but to gain authority over those regions. The economic dependency is further strengthened by the misuse of sanctions against regions in crisis. Complete economic sanctions on countries such as Syria, Yemen, and Venezuela are key reasons why humanitarian conditions have deteriorated, and even during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the request of the UN and NGOs, the countries remain reluctant to make sanctions flexible to assist humanitarian aid.

United Nations’ development goals and globalization project have also come under heavy criticism for attempting to increase cultural imperialism as it is argued that western cultures are understood as a universal goal that should be practiced over regional traditions under the name of globalization. Furthermore, the United Nations itself is economically dependent on funding from these superpowers to work. This means that the UN must keep these nations content in order to resume its work and are often required to fulfill self-interest if these countries. USA’s withdrawal from both WHO and HRC represents cases where the UN tried to remain unbiased and fulfill global needs rather than just one nation.

Nonetheless, United Nation must be appreciated for its great work over the last 70 plus years yet as of now, it has become quite unfruitful. Today, the UN is a platform for countries to campaign their own self-interest, vote under economic imperialism and approach violations and crises based on power politics rather than the urgency to resolve. Non- aligned movements and similar groups currently do not provide a useful alternative association approach yet but it is becoming quite visible that global politics is still stuck in the past wherein independent logical decision making is a blatant error and albeit some major powers, the rest of the nations are just small puppets for a system whose claims for global representation are nothing but laughable.