Despite its failures in preventing wars, the United Nations remains an indispensable organisation because it represents the great hope of humanity for peace and progress. As Dag Hammarskjold noted, the UN was not created to take humanity to heaven, but to save it from hell. Its primary objective is to prevent international conflict and facilitate cooperation among states, stopping conflicts from escalating into war and limiting hostilities if war breaks out.

The UN serves as a crucial platform where all countries can engage in dialogue. Shashi Tharoor emphasised that it is better to have a place where nations can "bore each other with words rather than bore holes into each other on the battlefield." This makes the UN essential for matters of war and peace and for improving living conditions globally through social and economic development.

In a unipolar world dominated by the US, the UN provides an arena where the rest of the world can engage with American policies. It brings together over 190 nations and offers a space where arguments against specific US attitudes are heard and compromises shaped.

Finally, given the growing interdependence among societies, it is hard to imagine how more than seven billion people would live together without such an organisation. Technology promises to increase planetary interdependence, making the UN even more important for the future.