What the exam asks
- Multiple Choice (Section I, Part A): Expect stimulus sets featuring excerpts from the UN Charter, World Bank data tables, or political cartoons about peacekeeping. Questions often test how Cold War rivalries or great-power veto rights limited an organization’s stated mission.
- Short Answer (Section I, Part B): You may be asked to identify a goal of a post-1945 institution from a source and explain a historical development before 2001 that either supported or challenged that goal.
- DBQ and LEQ (Section II): In an LEQ on 20th-century governance or globalization, institutions serve as prime evidence for continuity and change in state sovereignty—showing how states voluntarily pooled some authority while fiercely guarding national interests.
Core ideas
Maintaining world peace: The United Nations
Following the failure of the post-WWI League of Nations (which lacked United States membership and military enforcement power), Allied powers founded the United Nations (UN) in 1945. Its stated goals were to prevent armed conflict, uphold human rights, and foster international cooperation.
The UN’s structure reflects a tension between global equality and great-power dominance:
- The General Assembly: Includes all member states (each with one vote). Decolonization after 1945 dramatically expanded its membership, giving newly independent Asian and African nations a global platform.
- The Security Council (UNSC): Holds binding authority to authorize sanctions or peacekeeping forces. Five permanent members (P5: the United States, the Soviet Union/Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and France) hold veto power. During the Cold War, superpower vetoes frequently paralyzed UN action.