Glencoe World History: Modern Times © 2011 Virginia Edition

The United Nations

Introduction
The United Nations has become an important player in international relations since World War II. In this activity you will read about the structure and history of the UN. You will also learn about the role of the UN in attempting to prevent and resolve international conflicts.

Destination Title: About the United Nations

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• Start at the About the United Nations Web site.
• Under "Background Information," click on the UN in Brief .
• Read the article, "1–How the UN Works" and take notes.
• Read the article, "2–What the UN does for peace," and take notes.

Use the information you found to answer the following questions.

1			What are the main bodies of the United Nations?
2			What are UN specialized agencies? Give two examples.
3			Name at least three international conflicts that the United Nations has helped resolve.
4			What are the differences between peacemaking and peacekeeping?
5			An electronic database can help you organize, manage, and store a large amount of information. The information in a database can be organized into categories called fields. All the related fields make up a record, and a collection of records is a data file. Use a database management system to compile information about various UN agencies. Your fields can be such topics as: Agency, Date Established, Function, Number of Members, Recent Actions, and so on.