Is the United Nations Still Relevant in 2025?

Can the U.N. be reformed to fit 2025’s world, or do we need new forums for a future world? 

The U.N. logo adorns a window at U.N. headquarters in New York City on Sept. 18, 2025. Jeenah Moon/Reuters

Commentary

In September, at the 80th U.N. General Assembly in New York City, President Donald Trump stepped to the podium and posed a question that reverberated through the hall and across global headlines: “What is the purpose of the United Nations?”