The United Nations is an organization of sovereign nations not a world government. It provides the machinery to help find solutions to disputes or problems, and to deal with virtually any matter of concern to humanity.

It does not legislate like a national parliament. But in the meeting rooms and corridors of the UN, representatives of almost all countries of the world large and small, rich and poor, with varying political views and social systems have a voice and vote in shaping the policies of the international community. The year 1995 marks the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Organization.

The UN has six main organs, listed below. All are based at UN Headquarters in New York, except the International Court of Justice, which is located at The Hague, Netherlands.

Demos Kratia, or democracy, as it is used today, means " the people rule." A democracy is a form of government is run by the people of that country through elections and representation. A democracy is really a form of a republic known as a democratic republic. A republic is a government where officials, elected by a small group of people, make the important decisions. Democracy has been around for almost 2500 years since Athens, Greece became the first democracy. The Romans also experimented with democracy, however it was more a republic, and not a democracy. Around 1200 England laid the groundwork to become a republic. Later, in the 1700's, United States of America, became a democracy.

Another four years, another new president? The election of 1996 for president moves closer everyday as the republican Robert Dole, and the president Bill Clinton fight it out. Far behind and by all means out of the race is Ross Perot. The polls show Dole-Kemp behind Clinton-Gore, and the results will stay this way for several key reasons. Clinton will serve another four years as president since Americans know what to expect from him as president. On several key issues, such as the budget, Dole has provided the voters with vague ideas on how he will tackle his promises. As three key issues are examined we find Dole to make claims that can easily be doubted. Clinton's claims and views are backed up with four years of experience. Clinton's four years as president has seen a stable economy, and he will try to keep this up for another four years. The balancing of the budget proves to stand as one of the largest issues going into the election.

Welfare. Whether you collect it, or you pay for it (and for EVERY working American does one of the two), most citizens of our country are familiar with it. Yet as every second of the day passes, more and more of my money and yours is being allotted to this growing epidemic called welfare. The Personal Responsibility Act, signed by the President, was a monumental change in welfare as we know, or used to know it. The welfare system is still in need or more strict and stringent policy reform, yet the Personal Responsibility Act was a prodigious step in the right direction.

America has many problems with it's environment. The facts are clear that most corporations won't take the blame for them. These companies try to find ways out by stating that they are not the ones responsible for these problems. They try to protect themselves from the mistakes they made in the oil industry and the country. The facts are clear that there have been disasters in the oil field industry in the past ten years and they stand out in history. The article "Myths We Wouldn't Miss", by the Mobil Corporation, states that there hasn't been a major off shore oil disaster in past years. That may be true and it tries to get Mobil out of a jam but the underlying fact is that there have been oil spills and pollutants put into the environment and that cannot be excused. There have been facts which prove that there have been decreases in the fish population and in the aquatic life in the regions where the oil companies have been. The negligence of these companies can be shown in different fields.

Special interest groups have dominated government since the advent of America's political system. Special interest groups or lobbies are collections of individuals who join together to pursue common interests and to influence the decisions on public policies. Many people view special interest groups as an integral part of the political process, legitimized by the first amendment of the Constitution. In that way, special interest groups are good. The point that disgusts many people is that more often then not money overpowers the right decision; that is why Big Business is a problem. The richer the companies and organizations, the better chance they have to persuade the government officials.

People all over the world look to the United States for the latest trends, fashions, and technology. The United States have set all these standards during the majority of the last century, by being a government that represents freedom. All over the world people who were trapped in Communist governments hope that one day they too can be as fortunate as the people living in America; to them this freedom is part of their American Dream.

A study of the market reforms in post-communist eastern Europe with a specific case study of Poland Introduction Poland, as well as it's fellow post-communist countries, face an arduous task in re-inventing their economies to match the dominant Western style currently dominating the world. The difficulties lie in the areas of ideology, structural needs (massive changes required), world recession(current) and debt load. Communist Economics

What was Watergate? "Watergate" is a term used to describe a complex web of political scandals occurring between 1972 and 1974. On January 20, 1969, Richard M. Nixon had become the thirty-seventh president of the United States. As Nixon entered the White House, he was "full of bitterness and anger about past defeats, and about years of perceived slights from others in the political establishment." Nixon, a Republican, once stated that, "Washington is a city run primarily by Democrats and liberals, dominated by like-minded newspapers and other media."

In its attempts to harness the power of the atom, mankind has itself in the possession of weapons with unbelievable, destructive power. Nations now have the ability to destroy entire cities from hundreds of miles away, in only minutes. These weapons are nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons cost the citizens of the United States billions of dollars in taxes each year, the testing and maintenance of these weapons pose serious health risks, and the actual need for these weapons is not and has not been around for years. For the above reasons, I feel the United States should reduce its nuclear arsenal.