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Creating the United Nations

An International History of a World Organization

Creating the United Nations cover

Creating the United Nations

An International History of a World Organization

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Pre-order. Available 15 Oct 2026
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Description

80 years on from the creation of the United Nations during WWII, this book offers the first international history of its establishment. Often thought as the brainchild of the United States, Andrew Erhardt shows that it was instead the result of international collaboration between a number of nation states, non-government organizations and individuals determined to build a world organization that might keep the peace in a war-torn world.

As scholars, analysts and leading statesmen question whether the UN, and international organizations more broadly, remain fit for purpose in our 21st century world, Creating the United Nations takes us back to the beginning, to understand its original purpose, genesis and ultimate design. Only with this historical understanding – one that shines light on the central as well as the forgotten voices – can we begin to discuss how the United Nations might be reformed, to assess whether new forms of regional and international organisation are needed to address recurrent and new challenges, and to examine how such systems might be brought into existence.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Global History of the Creation of a Global Institution
1. The Development of Internationalism in the 19th and early 20th centuries
2. The Experience of the League of Nations in the 1920s and 1930s
3. Early Activism and Planning for a Post-war Organisation during WWII, 1937-40
4. The St James' Declaration, the Atlantic Charter, and the United Nations Declaration, 1941
5. Ongoing International Activism and Official Planning for a Post-war Organisation, 1941-44
6. Different Perspectives of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, 1944-45
7. A Meeting of Great and Small: The San Francisco Conference, April-June 1945
8. Early Challenges of a Universal Organization, 1946 -1948
Conclusion: The Legacy of the United Nations and its Future in an Age of International Transition

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 15 Oct 2026
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 256
ISBN 9781350521582
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Series New Approaches to International History
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

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