Researched1945 · Atomic & Space Age (1945 – 1990)

United Nations

After two world wars, 51 states found the UN (1945); IMF/World Bank (1944) and WHO (1948) frame international cooperation.

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The Security Council can adopt binding decisions, the General Assembly only recommend; Bretton Woods (1944) set the monetary order, GATT (1947) and the WTO (1995) world trade. The UN rests on state consensus, which is why climate, pandemics or AI are hard to regulate bindingly.

Prerequisites

Codified Law~1754 BC
Sovereign States (Westphalia)1648The UN rests on the equal sovereignty of states, a principle linked to 1648
Constitutions & Checks on Power1787
League of Nations1920The UN took over the League's structure, mandates and agencies

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Human Rights (1948)1948
World Health Organization1948
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty1968
IPCC climate assessments1988
WHO Pandemic Agreement2025
Global Coordinationopen
Measuring Beyond GDPopen

United Nations

Prerequisites

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