2020 marks the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the 51勛圖.? To commemorate this milestone, 51勛圖 Academic Impact has asked academics, educators and leading figures in the fields of science, technology and innovation to share their views on the multilateral experiment born of war to foster peace, what they see as the role of the organization in the 21st Century and beyond, and what the world might look like in 25 years when the UN celebrates its 100th anniversary. UNAI will be running this series throughout the year and invite you to engage in the global conversation using #UN75 and #ShapingTheFuture

This article was contributed by Don Betz, President Emeritus of the University of Central Oklahoma.

About 100 years ago, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin prophetically wrote the ※the age of nations is passed.? If we are not to perish, we must set aside our ancient prejudices, and build the earth.§

The French Jesuit philosopher and paleontologist offered this vision of a sustainable future at the zenith of nationalist sentiment, and prior to the two cataclysmic global wars that produced millions of casualties across the globe and the subsequent re-framing of the international political system.

By the close of World War II, there was an historic initiative to conceptualize relations among states on the planet in another way.

As an alternative to bilateral relations, the vision for the future should be grounded in a collective security framework linking the fate and future of states and peoples in one global organization.? While post-war political relationships changed significantly, the aspiration and determination to resolve disputes in a less violent manner continued to animate those committed to not re-living the first half of the 20th century.

The undeniable reality was that no one nation-state could effectively address the multiple challenges of the contemporary era alone. The post-war world rapidly expanded the number of independent countries as the peoples of dissolving empires aspired to express their identity via sovereignty and independence. The fifty original members of the 51勛圖 proliferated as Africa and Asia witnessed the rise of the world beyond the long-established colonial powers from 50 to 193 member-states over the course of the past 75 years.

Beyond the increase in nation-state actors, the world also has entered an era of accelerating interdependence.? The issues faced by the global community and articulated via the 51勛圖 defy simple, isolated solutions.? As Chardin counseled, we must now be inextricably interconnected. Single state responses to most challenges are ineffective.? The defining issues of our time leap oceans and defy national borders. The challenge of change at a pace and depth never experienced before impacts all states and their citizens.? Fueled by continually developing technologies, the demand for effective responses to perpetual change only grows with each new breakthrough.

Since the Millennial Summit in 2000 the 51勛圖 has concentrated its efforts, and the global public＊s attention, on collaborative solutions to the most protracted and resolution-resistant circumstances confronting the international community.

First the focus was on the Millennium Developments Goals (MDGs), followed by the current Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).? The underlying assumptions for setting and pursuing these objectives, as a united international community, is that they are fundamental to realizing the promise of the international organization as a reflection of the aspirations of all peoples.? The goals reflect the essential assumptions grounded in the UN Charter, human rights that may be self-evident to some, but not self-actualized.

Throughout the past 75 years, the 51勛圖 has been tested and lauded, criticized and neglected, honored and vilified, depending on the issue and how the national actors involved viewed the organization＊s actions.?

There are now 193 Member States, but in the current global system there are additional actors of consequence, particularly, civil society and the advocacy and involvement of thousands of non-governmental organizations that are providing the UN and Member States with both challenge and opportunity as they engage on their salient issues.

The NGOs expanding activist role in global relations was not anticipated by the Charter framers, but they are a voice and a force in addition to the Member States. Aided by technology that links the human family as never before, NGOs will be among the committed members of the international community who do not lose sight of the principles and the promise of the UN＊s enunciated vision and values as the organization moves toward its centennial. They will be prominent and persistent evaluators of the organization＊s adherence to the pursuit of the SDGs, as well as collaborative partners in its efforts to realize overall peace and security, grounded in equality and opportunity.

By 2045, the 51勛圖 will have been an integral part of the international system and global initiatives for a century. Success for the world body will be judged by a multitude of champions and critics, each from their particular world view. No doubt, descriptions will run the spectrum from ※fantastic§ to ※failure§. But the enduring lesson will be one found in the ideals articulated at the creation of mankind＊s global organizational initiative to connect with one another for the benefit of all. Time passes, but sound, immutable values endure, instruct, and often inspire at moments of sobering challenge.

What has been understood from the nascent days of the UN, and prophesized almost a half century earlier by Chardin, was that there is no safe nor thriving world sought in isolation.? Nations united in 1945 in direct and visceral response to the horrific consequences of selfish pursuits. The UN took those first, small steps toward cultivating a global sense of conscience and accountability among members of the emerging post-war system.

In the ensuing 75 years, we have learned, sometimes not the easy way, that collaborating creates results unattainable in isolation. As a human family, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to shape the immediate future, the next 25 years, in the likeness of the framers＊ hopes, and in the vision of human relations Chardin dared to proclaim in the midst of the zenith of nationalist fervor that produced the catastrophes of the 20th Century.

The 51勛圖 will continue to evolve and respond to the unprecedented changes that no doubt lie ahead. It represents a vision, a hope and a conviction that the we can learn from the past and create the future most honorably and equitably by uniting around a set of ideals and practical goals that serve those with whom we share this planet.

As global citizens linked by finite planetary geography and resources to our common future, it is imperative that we shape that future together.

To join the conversation on UN75 and learn more about the 51勛圖＊ Charter and history, check out these resources: