Meeting the Moment: The U.S. and the UN in 2023

More than three-quarters of a century ago, in the wake of the deadliest and most destructive conflict the world has ever witnessed, the United States and its allies came together to establish a new intergovernmental body, the United Nations. Tasked with preventing and suppressing threats to international peace and security, encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and facilitating cooperation on a broad suite of international economic, social, and humanitarian issues, the UN became a core component of the international order that the U.S. helped build and maintain after World War II. And while the world has changed significantly since 1945, the UN’s role as a force multiplier for the United States—a key platform for multilateral diplomacy to mitigate conflict, as well as for marshalling the necessary resources and political will to address challenges that no country is capable of resolving alone—remains as vital as ever.

The work of the UN and its large family of affiliated agencies, programs, and initiatives covers a wide set of issues and advances core American national interests in myriad ways. These include:

Over the past year, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has violated the foundational principles enshrined in the UN Charter—the treaty that established the UN—and challenged the international security order it sought to create. The UN system has responded forcefully to the war and its fallout: UN humanitarian agencies are on the front lines delivering lifesaving aid to the Ukrainian people; the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council have acted to isolate Russia diplomatically and begin the process of investigating and ensuring accountability for war crimes; the International Atomic Energy Agency, a UN specialized agency, is working to help avert potential disaster at Ukraine’s nuclear power plants; and the UN has helped negotiate and oversee an international agreement that ended a Russian blockade and has allowed Ukraine to export agricultural products to global markets. Without these and other activities, the situation for people inside Ukraine and for millions more around the world would undoubtedly be far worse.

It is difficult to see how any of these actions would be possible without strong U.S. engagement and support—political, financial, and otherwise. As a permanent member of the Security Council, the UN’s largest financial contributor, and host of UN Headquarters, the U.S. has long played a more powerful role than most other Member States in driving the UN’s agenda. By that same token, the U.S.—as a global economic and military superpower—also depends a great deal on the efforts of the UN and other international organizations to create a more stable, just, healthy, and peaceful world. While Congress and the Administration have recognized this and made significant progress recently in restoring U.S. leadership at the UN, there is still work to be done. For example, the U.S. still carries well over $1 billion in peacekeeping arrears inherited from policy decisions made during the Trump Administration. Failing to meet our financial obligations to the UN not only harms critical programs that advance American interests and values, but also sends a signal to our global competitors, particularly China and other authoritarian governments, that the door is open for them to influence the organization in a way that more closely aligns with their own national interests. To prevent this, the U.S. must persist in concentrating on robust and constructive engagement with the UN and the rest of the international system that it worked so hard to create in the middle of the 20th century.

To underscore the importance of U.S. engagement with the UN, this briefing book provides information on various aspects of the UN’s work and how it advances U.S. interests. It is our hope that this book can serve as a helpful resource—both for policymakers and members of the public—as the U.S.-UN relationship continues to play out over the coming year.