United Nations

View from the Left

Those on the left tend to favor multilateralism and globalism and therefore have a much more favorable view of the UN than those on the right. Furthermore, many on the left are greatly concerned with the threat of climate change, and look to the UN as a means of uniting a global force to thwart the production of greenhouse gasses and reverse global warming. The left also argues for increased UN funding, citing China’s influence internationally affirms this need

However, some on the left are dissatisfied with how the UN has handled human rights violations, noting several times that UN resolutions to stop violence have been rejected or vetoed by nations with a stake in the violence.

View from the Right

Conversely, many on the right are generally opposed to the UN, taking a more nationalistic or localist approach and therefore being opposed to global entities that they see as either disconnected from average people and their needs, or actively antagonistic to the sovereignty of individual nation states. The right in general distrusts the UN and views its agenda negatively, arguing centralized control is a threat to free nations and peoples.

Those on the right also typically oppose the idea of sacrificing more funds to the UN, claiming that increased funding would not resolve the problems surrounding China’s influence. Many believe that the money going to the UN would be better suited for going towards our own defense and security budget. 

They also feel the problem is not necessarily how much of the funding goes to the UN, but for what purposes the UN requires it. They claim that we should not be funding the Green Climate Fund or programs like it, as many of these programs have been “funneling millions to China,” even though China has been shown to have more emissions than the “U.S. and all developed countries combined.” Furthermore, many look at calls from the UN to lower agricultural emissions as a path towards “regulating producers out of business”  and radically and negatively altering economies and resource distribution.