The Derived Snob Value of UN Membership

The title of this post sounds like an ad-line for securing membership of one of those odd but coveted social clubs. There is always a certain snob value attached to such a club, especially if it is hard to get into. Little wonder then that people wait for years to get into hi-society clubs, if not for the real deal then for the attached snob value. 


One such club is the United Nations. Frankly, I have never been a great fan of the United Nations, a global body, with 193 members and a few territories with observer status. It is  a club with derived snob value (of the moral type), and that's why it still is coveted. However, it has little real actionable use when it comes to solving some of the world's most intractable problems, like the Israel-Palestine tangle, the crisis in the Korean peninsula, and resolving disputes between the warring factions in numerous African nations.  


The most the UN can do is to levy sanctions, especially of the economic variety, against some countries to punish the political dispensations in power. If you look at the countries where such sanctions are in place currently, like North Korea and Iran, they affect the regimes less and the common people more. So much for the collective wisdom of the global community. 


The last country (i.e. 193rd nation) to get into the UN was Switzerland. The latest one seeking the UN's membership is Palestine. I will not get into the merits of its case for membership; rather I will share an infographic (sourced from the Reuters blog) that details a few facets of the Israel-Palestine crisis and the process involved to get the membership of the UN. 


Trust me, Friends, this is the kind of serious material that can prove handy in the rigorous b-school selection process.