CEVAP:

First, European traditions and experience in international law and organization since the 16th century had a significant impact on the creation of an international organization in the 20th century. Second, the UN also evolved out of the Concert of Europe that was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. On the one hand, the Concert of Europe was dominated by the great powers, which acted as the guardians of the modern state system (Alger, 1995: 4). On the other hand, meeting more than 30 times between 1815 and 1878 to settle common issues and coordinate their actions, these same powers had also set practices and principles such as multilateral consultation, collective security, and special status for powerful countries that are still influential in the UN system today (Mingst and Karns, 2012:19). Third, the origins of the UN system can be also traced to The Hague Conferences, a pair of international meetings that were held in 1899 and 1907. The Hague system codified procedures for the prevention of war and the pacific settlement of conflicts, which extensively influenced the UN (Alger, 1995: 5). The Hague system also created techniques and practices such as arbitration, negotiation, legal recourse as well as significant legal regulations and institutions including the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, ad hoc commissions of inquiry, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration. More importantly, The Hague Conferences contributed to the formation of the UN by establishing and reinforcing the principles of universality and legal equality, because both non-European states and relatively small states were included among the participants (Mingst and Karns, 2012:20). Fourth, the international bodies or international public unions were already established in the 19th century to settle common technical issues stemming from modern developments in communication, health, commerce, railroads, and agriculture. Growing out of the Industrial Revolution, they formed another example of early transnational integration and led to the creation of international public unions such as the Rhine Commission (1815), the Danube Commission (1848), the International Telegraphic Union (1865), and the Universal Postal Union (1874). (Alger, 1995:5) These international bodies solidified a group of permanent bureaucrats called international secretariats to implement specific tasks on a regular basis. Moreover, these organizations were also instrumental in creating methods for multilateral conventions, treaties, and international law (Mingst and Karns, 2012:20). Finally, the League of Nations, established after the end of World War I, had a huge impact on the creation of the UN. In fact, the UN can be defined as “a child of the League of Nations” (Alger, 1995:4). The League provided a model for the normative and institutional structure of the UN. It is a fact that the UN derived important organizational features from the League such as the Secretariat and Assembly. By including other international agencies such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), the League also set a precedent for the UN (Hanhimaki, 2008: 10). The UN also seemed to have learnt from both the failures and achievements of the League. For instance, because the League had failed to prevent the aggressions of Italy and Japan in the 1930s, the architects of the UN altered the unanimity rule, which had been required in the League to deploy military forces in response to aggression (Alger, 1995:4).