The Path to Union

There were two priorities in the immediate post-war period: national reconstruction and the creation of a new international order to maintain peace and security. The United Nations was established in 1944. It was a union of nation-states, then seen as the essential building blocks of the global fabric. It had an Economic and Social Council, dedicated to new economic planning. Between 1944 and 1950 a series of specialized UN agencies was constituted, among which the Food and Agriculture Organization had a particular responsibility for natural resources, including forests and fisheries, while the Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization fostered research and education of many kinds, and had direct links with the scientific world. ^{1, 2}