The reference of disputes to international political institutions has a history as long as that of arbitration. For present purposes, however, it is unnecessary to go further back than 1919, when, with the creation of the League of Nations as a reaction to the First World War, the first attempt was made to establish a universal organisation with broad responsibilities in this area. Following the failure of the League, or more accurately its member states, to take effective action to forestall a second holocaust, a fresh effort to bring disputes within the field of operations of a world organisation was made with the creation of the United Nations Organization in 1945.

The purposes of the United Nations, as set out in Article 1 of the Charter, are to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations, to achieve international co-operation in solving problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character and in promoting human rights, and to be a centre for harmonising the actions of states in attaining these ends. Of these interrelated purposes, the maintenance of international peace and security occupies the primary place. Here, according to the Charter, the Organization has two distinct responsibilities: to bring about cessation of armed conflict whenever it occurs, and to assist the parties to international disputes to settle their differences by peaceful means. The scope of the Organization's powers in this second area, the ways in which they are exercised in practice and the effectiveness of the United Nations' contribution are the subject of the present chapter.