What is the difference between NATO and the UN?

Question

I do not come from a political background and I have to know this.
I'd like to know the differences in ideologies, which organisation is higher than the other? What are the differences in their core objectives?

Thanks

Answer 1

Both grew out of World War II and both (and, later, the European Communities as well) were measures aimed at preventing the outbreak of war ever again in Europe. NATO from the Treaty of Brussels 1948 (which also founded the Western European Union), the UN from the conference at San Francisco and the United Nations Charter 1945.

NATO is a military alliance; the Western European Union and the United Nations are venues for diplomatic debate and measures to keep the peace.

They are quite different organizations; with NATO members being more likeminded, ecoomically-developed and committed to mutual defense. While the United Nations Security Council can order military action, it is constrained by differences -- by Russian rivalry and self-interest, by Chinese communist imperialism -- from reaching consensus more often than not. The result is frequently feeble compromise. The one notable exception was the Korean War -- at time when Taiwan represented China in the UN and the Soviet Union was boycotting the Security Council.

Nonetheless, both have peace as the "core objective".

Neither is "higher" than the other: presumably the UN enjoys greater respect among Third World countries because it gives them a say, and is not a threat. The UN also -- through its many specialized agencies -- provides services and support in matters of health, communications, agriculture and law.

Answer 2

NATO began as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949, as an extended self-defense organization which included the victors in WW2 (US, UK, France, West Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Iceland, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Denmark and a few others) to defend each other if any one was attacked. NATO was the counterweight to the USSR and the eastern European countries (Warsaw Pact countries.) Under Charles de Gaulle, France exited the NATO group, but continues as an independent allied country, though not a member of the council. When the USSR imploded in 1989, in the following years, many of the former Soviet bloc countries petitioned and eventually gained membership with NATO. For example, Poland, the Czech Republic, Republic of Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, and several others are full NATO members.

The United Nations was formed after WW2 in 1945 as an organization of all the nations of the world - western or democratic, communist, and non-aligned with either group. (There are few, if any countries, which are not UN members.) The UN exists to solve conflicts between countries through diplomacy. It also has a sizeable aid program dealing with poverty and healthcare issues. The UN does not have a standing army, rather its members contribute troops and equipment to provide peacekeeping duties whenever and wherever the Security Council and General Assembly direct the UN forces to be sent.

The UN and NATO are independent - neither is superior to the other.

Answer 3

The NATO means North Atlantic Treaty Organization which is an organization of European Countries allied to the United States while the UN is the United Nations composed of many countries in almost all of the continents except Antartica.

The NATO is concerned with the security of the member countries against foreign aggression and is most interested in military cooperation to protect their organization. The UN is a bigger organization concerned with social, economic, military, educational and other purposes.

The core objective of NATO is protection of Europe's member countries and US from communist countries while UN is for international cooperation all over the world.

Answer 4

NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is a mutual defense organization consisting of the US, Canada, UK, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkey and some new admissions from eastern European countries. It grew out of the need for the West to protect itself against an armed attack by Russia and eastern Europe after World War II, when eastern Europe was mostly viewed as communist satellites of Russia. The United Nations is an association open to just about every country. Taiwan is not a member because China insists that it is a province of China. From my humble perspective, the United Nations rarely agrees on anything, rarely accomplishes anything and serves mostly to allow for the more radical countries to have a soapbox in Midtown Manhattan. NATO brought peace to the Balkans and is actively assisting the US in Afghanistan.

Answer 5

NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and was formed after World War II. It's basically a treaty involving the militaries of Western Europe and the U.S., however, that has been changing since the end of the Cold War. The U.N. is the UNITED NATIONS - based upon the League of Nations which started after World War I and includes any nation that agrees to the tenets of organization. (However, there are MANY nations that are members of the U.N. that violate this basic tenets - particularly human rights - all the time.) The United Nations was formed to prevent war and promote peace betwee nations. It has it's own complex organization. There are 191 member nations in the United Nations at this time.

For more in depth info look up the links below:

Answer 6

NATO = Europe or White Pride

UN = the world or Uniting Negroes

Answer 7

http://www.fas.org/man/nato/natodocs/index.html

http://esa.un.org/techcoop/fellowshipGuidelines.pdf

Answer 8

Nothing, they are both worthless !