Line #29 Main/UnitedNationsIsASuperpower


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6	->''"In this fictional world, becoming the "head of the United Nations" means becoming the most powerful person on earth. The UN, in these books, is a kind of planet-wide federation to which every nation [...] belongs in the same way that the American states belong to one, united nation."''
7	-->-- '''Fred Clark''' [[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2012/05/18/nra-it-was-the-worst-of-books/ on]] the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series
8
9	A fictional, TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture[=/=]ExactlyExtyYearsAgo[=/=]AlternateHistory version of the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations that [[NGOSuperpower possesses political, military, and/or economic power on par with a world superpower (or even hyperpower)]]. Oftentimes, it operates and is structured like a [[TheFederation huge federalized union of its member states]]. It could even take the next step: becoming a [[OneWorldOrder planetwide government]].
10
11	As some of the examples below would suggest, FunWithAcronyms is practically a necessity.
12
13	In RealLife, the UN has no military force of its own and acts primarily through sanctions, [[NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering when its members can be made to agree on anything in the first place]]. Some of its detractors go so far as to say that the UN has ''no real authority'' whatsoever, although this view is usually held by those who oppose whatever view the majority of its members hold. UN "military" are generally peacekeeping forces made up of units and equipment volunteered from member nations. As a result, many instances of this trope require that the UN adjust its structure to become much more powerful; frequently there is some form of world-threatening crisis that demands a unified multi-national force under UN command that results in the UN becoming far stronger.
14
15	Compare InterpolSpecialAgent. See also NGOSuperpower, OneWorldOrder, and FictionalUnitedNations.
16	----
17	!!Examples:
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19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
22	* In ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'', TheSyndicate runs the U.N., which makes it a very powerful organization probably more so than actual nations. PANDORA is basically their own army.
23	* The U.N. in ''Anime/{{Macross}}'', whose rise into a OneWorldOrder was kickstarted by the spaceship ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross''[='s=] arrival on Earth, and was ultimately renamed to "Earth U.N. Government".
24	** By ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'', they have developed into a much more decentralized federation called the "New U.N." as more and more species like the [[Anime/Macross7 Zolans]] and [[Anime/MacrossDelta Ragnans]] have joined them, with their space forces being called New U.N. Spacy, or just N.U.N.S.
25	** In the ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' adaptation, the crash of the ship that would be refitted into the SDF-1 Macross also results in the creation of a world government but instead of starting a global civil war (as shown in ''Anime/MacrossZero''), it ends a global civil war.
26	* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', the UN starts off like its real-world counterpart: lacking influence and mostly dealing with humanitarian efforts. Once the power blocs begin to work together, a joint military force is formed under the auspices of the UN. Eventually, the superpowers reform the UN into the Earth Sphere Federation.
27	** The Earth Federation of the original Universal Century timeline formed out of the UN as well, with ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'' explaining the details. The Federation was originally supposed to be decentralized but on the eve of the Federation's formation, the first president was assassinated in a FalseFlagOperation by Earth-supremacist hardliners who pinned it on space colonists as an excuse to deny them representation in the Federation Assembly and institute an Earth-centric government. It took nearly eighty years for the situation to boil over but [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression once it did]], the result was [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam a devastating war]] that killed off half of humanity and was followed by [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam decad]][[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ es of]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack on-an]][[Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91 d-off]] ForeverWar between the Federation and various insurgent groups. By [[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam 153 years after its formation]], the Federation is a VestigialEmpire in all but name, yet still manages to hold on for another fifty years before finally dissolving.
28	* In the wake of global devastation, the UN in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', having undergone heavy reforms following the Second Impact and the Valentine Treaty of February 2001. To illustrate, ''all'' of the world's national militaries are explicitly under direct control of the UN -- and are effectively ''subordinate'' to [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction UN Special Agency]] [[StateSec NERV]].
29	* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has the [[OneWorldOrder World Government]], an organization founded over 800 years ago by an alliance of 20 countries (whose rulers would become the [[AristocratsAreEvil World Nobles]] along with their descendants) and currently spanning over 170 nations across the planet. Backed by the military might of the Marines and the [[{{privateer}} Seven Warlords]], along with the [[SecretPolice Cipher Pol]] intelligence agency, there are few places beyond the World Government's reach. While it is meant to be a coalition of nations with no power over each other, [[spoiler:secretly it is ruled by a being known as [[ShadowDictator Im]], whose EstablishingCharacterMoment is nonchalantly sitting on the Empty Throne as the Five Elders bow to them]].
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Comics]]
33	* The U.N. in ''Comicbook/THUNDERAgents'' stands for United Nations (The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves), but it is not clear how directly associated with the UN they are. In the Creator/DCComics version, the "Higher United Nations" appears to be a distinct organisation, separate from the regular United Nations.
34	* In the Wildstorm Universe, this is basically the case for the international super-team ComicBook/{{Stormwatch}}. Its team members actually get a lot of flak from America, who, in this continuity, wish ''they'' were the world police.
35	* In Creator/MarvelComics, ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} wavers back and forth between being a UN peacekeeping force and being affiliated with the USA exclusively.
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Fan Works]]
39	* ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': [[AfterTheEnd In the post-Third Impact world]], the UN is the only major political power left. However, it's devolved into a military dictatorship led by a warlord who has got ahold of a large number of nukes.
40	* ''Fanfic/{{HERZ}}'': In this history, set in the year 2027, the UN is de facto ''the'' hegemonic superpower. It's gradually developing into an OneWorldOrder as the nation-states keep losing power and influence and it has its own army, including {{Humongous Mecha}}s to deal with emergencies.
41	* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'' spin-off ''[[Fanfic/TheBridgeHumanitysStand Humanity's Stand]]'' establishes that the Global Defense Force is the result of the United Nations militarizing itself in light of the [[Film/PacificRim Anteverse]] invasion.
42	* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. The eponymous rocketship is the ''UNRS'' (for United Nations Rocket Ship) ''Voyager''. It's part of Spacefleet which enforces world peace through the [[SwordOfDamocles threat of orbiting A-bomb platforms]]. However nation states still exist and their rivalries threaten to spill out onto Venus and Mars; hence Spacefleet now operates under the authority of the Tri-World Federation outside Earth's exosphere.
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Films]]
46	* The UN is militarized in ''Anime/TheAnimatrix'' (and is apparently far more powerful by this time), as a direct result of humanity uniting against the Machines.
47	* Used in the ''Film/AThiefInTheNight'' films (a Christian End Times series). After the Rapture and subsequent emergency, the UN reforms itself into the UN Imperium of Total Emergency. It proceeds to do evil: forcing people to get branded, controlling food supplies, having their own secret police, etc.
48	* The UN (pronounced "un") was imagined to be this in ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}''.
49	* ''Film/TheArtOfWar''. Neil Shaw is an agent working for a United Nations black ops team that uses espionage, assassination, and other quasi-ethical methods to ensure cooperation from problematic nations. However it's made clear at several points throughout the film that Shaw and his team are essentially mercenaries with no official mandate, and that the U.N. ''doesn't'' actually have the authority to do any of the things it does in the film.
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Literature]]
53	* The United Nations in ''Literature/TheLordOfOpium'' is apparently this, since they can launch airstrikes on sovereign nations, and one of the plot points is the Esperanza has [=UN=] troops waiting outside of the borders of Opium; waiting for the force field to go down. [[spoiler: Maria uses [=UN=] issued battle armor to survive a trip through the holoport.]]
54	* ''Literature/LeftBehind'': The United Nations is depicted as the strongest power in the world, with the Secretary-General of the United Nations being the de facto President of Earth. This is why the AntiChrist goes for the job of Secretary General to TakeOverTheWorld. His inauguration is treated as a coronation for the world's most important leader. Quick, do you even know the name of the current U.N. Secretary-General? All of this is due to one biblical interpretation that the apocalypse will be preceded by a [[OneWorldOrder single world government]], and the United Nations' role as a global organization for diplomacy is interpreted as the closest thing we've got. Oddly enough it's also presented as having a fairly realistic budget, leading him to have to pay for most of his activities out of his own pocket.
55	* In Creator/DanielKeysMoran's ''Tales of the Continuing Time'' cycle, the French have begun to dominate the UN, and the peacekeeping forces are now known and feared as ''peaceforcers''.
56	* In ''Literature/TheEschatonSeries'', the UN, consisting of most of the microstates of the [[BalkanizeMe balkanized]] post-[[TheSingularity Singularity]] Earth, is an interesting mix of "quite powerful" and "not very powerful at all": it mostly leaves local governments on Earth alone, but it has scores of agents tasked with enforcing the laws of the Eschaton -- a far-future expression of the Singularity that flung human civilizations across space for reasons unclear, but which wants the laws of causality to be preserved at any cost. It also has a lot of pull for the mythical association with EarthThatWas (which they usually can't distinguish from Earth-That-Still-Is). This UN is ''not'' the same organization, but rather a development of the Internet Engineering Task Force (yes) that took on the responsibilities and form of the UN after the post-Singularity Earth had settled down (i.e. suitably modified for a world of ''tens of thousands'' of states rather than 193).
57	* ''Literature/KnownSpace'' has the UN develop into a planetary government.
58	* In Creator/LarryNiven's ''Svetz'' series (about a time-traveling agent who goes into the past to retrieve what he thinks are extinct animals but turn out to be mythical creatures), the Earth is ruled by the UN, a hereditary monarchy where [[RoyalInbreeding the Secretary General is an "inbred idiot"]].
59	* "Shah Guido G", a short story by Creator/IsaacAsimov, has the UN ultimately transform into a tyrannical, caste-based oppressive regime headed by a hereditary Sekjen ([[DontExplainTheJoke Secretary General, in other words]]), only to fall when one of the high castes arranges for the flying capital city of Atlantis to crash after seeing just how corrupt the society has become. The reason for the name of the story is in-universe a nickname by the oppressed masses for the last Sekjen, and out-universe a [[ShaggyDogStory reference]] to the [[WordOfGod Asimov-admitted]] point of the story being to [[{{Feghoot}} set the stage]] for a {{Pun}}.
60	* Creator/PoulAnderson's ''The Psychotechnic League'' has the UN reforming into a superpower after a nuclear conflict in 1958. However, many nationalists oppose this, and the UN sends special agents (''[=UNMen=]) to defuse threats. Unlike some other examples, the UN are the good guys.
61	* The ''Literature/SeafortSaga'' has the UN as the governing body of Earth and its colonies. Oddly enough, its society is akin to Napoleonic-era Britain: Swearing in public can lead to legal trouble, the Church is an important factor of life, and there are legal duels.
62	%%* ''Literature/TheForeverWar''
63	* ''Literature/CarrerasLegions'': The UN is the governing body of Earth, developing the planet into a FeudalFuture CrapsackWorld.
64	* ''Literature/LastAndFirstMen'', which was written between the World Wars, has the ''League of Nations'' transform over time into a purely cosmopolitan world government as a very early section of the book's "Future History." Although it's mentioned that the League is eventually usurped by both the Americans and Chinese before the two merge into a genuine OneWorldOrder.
65	* In Chris Moriarty's ''Spin'' series, the bulk of human-controlled space is run by the UN. Weirdly subverted, however, in that Earth is not unified and its nation-states still bicker and fight just as much as they do in the 21st century.
66	* ''Literature/TimeMachineSeries'': In ''The Rings of Saturn'', it's mentioned that in the future, the United Nations is an OneWorldOrder, but a benevolent one.
67	* ''Literature/{{Spinneret}}'': At the beginning of the book the UN is the typical debating society we know today, but it rapidly rises to meet this trope when aliens arrive and can't be bothered to deal with dozens of individual nations. And like any good superpower, it starts abusing its newfound authority almost instantly.
68	* In ''Literature/GalacticMarines'', the UN has grown in power and influence to the point where it's almost a OneWorldOrder. Several nations (including the US, Japan, and Russia) still resist the UN's more and more forceful demands that they join the European-dominated organization. This gets to the point where UN-assigned overseers sent to the American excavation site in Cydonia, Mars, keep acting as if they're in charge of the mission, even though their official role is "observers only". Halfway through the novel, [[spoiler:the UN declares war on the "rogue" states over the findings on Mars]]. There is also a lot of pressure on the US to give up its Southwest for a new Latino nation called Aztlan. When the Americans understandably refuse, they're accused of being selfish and refusing to integrate with the world.
69	* In ''Literature/TheExpanse'', the United Nations appears to be the governing body of Earth, though the specifics and background are kept vague. At the very least, the UN is responsible for Earth's off-world colonies, as well as off-world peacekeeping and general planetary defense, through the UN Navy. They're also involved in a SpaceColdWar with the virtually independent Mars Congressional Republic.
70	* ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark'': In ''Invasion'', the UN is still, technically, the same entity it is today, except for the existence of the United Space Forces, a supranational military force answerable to the UN Security Council, which is dominated by the three global superpowers (North America, Europe, Russia), who are determined to keep the other nations (including China, India, and the Muslim world) out of space. The USF is, typically, a monolithic entity, although there are occasional attempts by their sponsoring nations to use the USF for their own political goals. The three admirals in charge of the force usually try to resist, even though each of them comes from one of the three powers. The admirals are determined to keep the USF separate from Earth politics, knowing that Earth's safety depends on the USF remaining unified. The sequel ''Retaliation'' reveals that, several decades after the failed [[HumanAlien Faata]] invasion, the UN is reformed into the World Parliament, an attempt at creating a OneWorldOrder. The Security Council becomes the Solar System Security Committee. The USF remains largely unchanged, except for expanding its operations beyond the Solar System thanks to ImportedAlienPhlebotinum and increasing the number of the fleets to account for the expanding volume of space under human control. The World Parliament is later reformed into the [[TheFederation Earth Federation]], which also includes the other worlds settled by humans.
71	* Creator/RobertAHeinlein
72	** ''Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand''. The UN is replaced by the Federated Nations, and it has its own police force called the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName SS]]. The United States is just a minor player.
73	** In ''Literature/RocketShipGalileo'', peace is enforced by the guided rockets of the U.N. World Patrol.
74	* In the ''Literature/TakeshiKovacs'' novels the UN Protectorate governs Earth and several other systems, control maintained by [[SuperSoldier "Envoys"]] who specialize in breaking up resistance movements.
75	* In ''Literature/{{Inferno\|2013}}'', the ''World Health Organization'' has the power to summon a specs-op group aboard a C-130 to rescue their head from bioterrorists. A WHO chief staff, Dr. Bernhard Schwartzländer, once brought this up as a specific example of what the WHO doesn't do... before [[HypocriticalHumor adding]] "We are not like [[InterpolSpecialAgent Interpol]]".
76	* ''Literature/TheGanymedeTakeover''. Mention is made of the UN Army being used against the alien invaders.
77	* ''Gold in the Sky'', the 1958 sci-fi thriller by Alan E. Nourse. The U.N. Patrol is in conflict with [[MegaCorp Jupiter Equatorial]], who are perfectly happy to let the United Nations run Earth as long as they run everything else in the solar system, knowing that [[OverpopulationCrisis humanity will eventually have to leave Earth in large numbers.]] Given that the novel is something of a SpaceWestern they act mainly as the USMarshal with Jupiter Equatorial as the RobberBaron.
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79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
82	* ''Series/DoctorWho'' imagines the UN having much more control, organization, and respect than it does in real life, what with controlling the launch of nuclear weapons and issuing global advisories during alien invasions and worldwide crises. They also maintain a military force and espionage organisation known as UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce), which is meant to deal with existential threats to world civilisation as a whole, whether extraterrestrial or terrestrial in origin. In-universe, this situation is the result of international terror at the specific incident depicted in the story "The Web of Fear", in which an EldritchAbomination managed to occupy most of central London.
83	** With the series' revival in 2005, negative reaction to this trope from the ''real'' UN led the writers to change UNIT to the ''[=UNified=]'' Intelligence Taskforce and make its allegiance a lot vaguer.
84	* Subverted by ''Series/BabylonFive'': The UN wasn't turning into this fast enough for the big dogs of 21st-century Earth, certainly not fast enough to prevent WorldWarIII, so they established the stronger Earth Alliance to replace it, and crushed the holdouts. Being TheFederation in its most realistic form, it continues to have UN-ish elements, like preserving national states back on Earth.
85	* The TV adaptation of ''Series/TheExpanse'' expands on the UN's elevated role by specifically stating that the UN serves as the governing body of Earth, Luna, and the Belt colonies under their control.
86	* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "Quality of Mercy" and "The Light Brigade", which take place at an indeterminate point in the future, the United Nations forms a [[OneWorldOrder world government]]. It is led by a president who has executive powers.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
90	* ''TabletopGame/{{Aberrant}}'': Just like with GURPS Supers and Champions (see below), Aberrant features a world with superheroes in which one of the most powerful organizations, Project Utopia, is associated with the United Nation.
91	* The USN (United Solar Nations) in the ''TabletopGame/JovianChronicles'' is an independent military peace-keeping and police force descended from the UN.
92	* ''TabletopGame/CthulhuTech'' had the New United Nations which came about when the US, EU, and Russia decided that they wanted international law to have some actual teeth and support for democratic principles. That lasted about 40 years until an alien invasion caused the NUN to turn into the New Earth Government police state to fight for survival in a LovecraftLite setting.
93	* ''TabletopGame/BluePlanet'' gives us the Global Ecology Organization (GEO) which was one of the last vestiges of the UN in the face of an agriculture destroying Blight. A century after being given control of Earth's military and scientific resources, it is now being challenged by the rest of a reinstituted UN who sees it as a dangerous relic.
94	* In ''TabletopGame/FengShui'' the Buro is the PoliceState born from the UN's peace-keeping forces when an ambitious scientist used knowledge of [[{{Magitek}} arcanowave science]] to seize control of the flow of the world's chi and the reigns of power with it.
95	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' the UN evolved into the Terran Confederation, which was strong enough to fight the Vilani. After defeating the Vilani the Terran Confederation became the Second Imperium, or Rule of Man, and collapsed completely about 400 years later, taking interstellar civilization with it.
96	* In ''GURPS TabletopGame/InfiniteWorlds'', there are a couple of instances: the Homeline United Nations which is becoming more powerful thanks to Infinity, and Gernsback's League of Nations, where J. P. Morgan (whose daughter married UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla, creating an alliance between them) helped support the League of Nations and reform several nations, leading to a better economy that braved the 1929 crisis and a more powerful League that could force Italy and Japan to back off from Ethiopia and China, as well as declare war on Soviet Russia when it came out that Stalin was trying to get an atomic bomb - and at the time the game begins, the League and the World Science Council are pretty much controlling the world.
97	* The default setting for ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Supers'' featured a UN with quietly held tactical nuclear weapons. And the ability to tell nations to not make strategic ones.
98	* Much like ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Supers'', the ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}' setting features UNTIL, a heavily armed worldwide peacekeeping organization that [[RedShirt defends the public]] from super-powered criminals. They are funded and controlled by the UN and have toys like personal energy weapons, giant aircraft carriers, and orbital bases.
99	* In the post-cyberpunk setting of ''TabletopGame/NeuroSpasta'' the UN has grown increasingly powerful in the wake of multiple economic and environmental disasters. By 2091, it has become near equal to the superpower nations, governing its own city-state in international waters and a dozen other small territories around the world. It also has its own military.
100	* This is downplayed but still present in the later works set in the ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'' setting, specifically ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsLostColony.'' The UN in this setting seems to have far greater military power than it does in real life, to the point of having its own limited space navy. When a distant exoplanet is discovered that humanity can reach (and exploit for Ghost Rock), the UN sends its Expeditionary Forces (EXFOR) to both pacify the indigenous populous and to keep the various involved factions from engaging in too much conflict.
101	[[/folder]]
102
103	[[folder:Video Games]]
104	* ''VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere'' has the UPEO, who are in essence the military branch of the ''Neo'' United Nations. However, unlike typical examples, they wouldn't qualify as a superpower for most cases, as they're at best a peacekeeper for the real superpowers: [[OneNationUnderCopyright General Resource Limited and Neucom Incorporated]]. They're also woefully underequipped for their role, as both General Resource and Neucom consider them to merely be a figurehead to ignore when it's getting in the way, and it's only "funded" by manner of being given the companies' bottom-line trash weapons when they're done with them.
105	** By the time the United Government is established 50 years later, this ''appears'' to have been changed to a more traditional example, but both Neucom and General Resource are still in control of the government - just in a much less overt way.
106	* In most games of the ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' series, controlling a majority of votes in the UN makes you the unquestioned ruler of the world. Even in its more mundane dealings, it rules unopposed - nobody has veto power; if the majority of states agree to an embargo on Attila the Hun, nobody can ignore it, and if a luxury resource gets banned, nobody can gain any Happiness from having it.
107	* This happens over the course of the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries''. The United Nations Global Defense Initiative was founded as a black-ops counter-terrorist unit but is reformed into what is essentially the UN's military in response to the Brotherhood of Nod's coalition of disaffected Third World nations during the First Tiberium War. But as [[HostileTerraforming Tiberium]] [[AlienKudzu spreads across the planet,]] most of the UN's member nations collapse under the strain of dealing with the catastrophic ecological damage, leaving GDI as the only organization capable of keeping order. By ''Tiberium Wars'' the United Nations has been effectively subsumed by GDI, a would-be OneWorldOrder opposed by its old enemy the Brotherhood of Nod, [[NGOSuperpower which has performed a similar stabilizing role]] in the Tiberium-wracked Third World.
108	* While ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'''s Allies more or less stand in for the UN, complete with the basic infantry being better-equipped riot police called Peacekeepers, who according to the background took some flak for pitting them in open warfare.
109	* ''Franchise/DeusExUniverse'':
110	** ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' has UNATCO, the "United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition", which while on the surface, seems to be a world police force hosted by the UN, is [[spoiler: pretty much the beginnings of a military for a one-state world]]. The UN itself apparently has much more power in the 2050s, since it appears to hold sway over politics in nations, as one character uses the term, "UN-governed nations." The UN's influence got to be so bad, that China left it sometime before the game, and is [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld arguably better off for it.]] Conversations and flavor text materials in the game suggest that much of this came about because citizen confidence in local sovereign states has severely waned in the wake of ecological and economic disasters, weakening those states, which in turn causes them to increasingly rely on the UN to maintain their influence, consolidating effective power there. This in turn reduces citizen confidence in those states further, leading to widespread discontentment and open civil war in first-world nations.
111	** The plot of the prequel ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' revolves around the UN's decision to consider a sanction or ban on all human augmentations. Conversation within the game seems to indicate that the weight of the decision would nearly be on par with that made by any other sovereign government with recognized legal authority.
112	** ''VideoGame/DeusExMankindDivided'' sees the formation of Task Force 29, a counter-terrorism organization that appears to be a precursor to UNATCO, though it's run by Interpol instead of the UN. However, the Interpol also appears to be under the direct control of the UN Security Council so it acts like a global police and even police openly endorsing hate crimes against augmented don't dare actually hinder an augged Interpol agent more than basic harrasment.
113	* ''VideoGame/HalfLife 2'': The United Nations are alluded to be the faction fighting against the Combine in the Seven Hour War. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin They lose in mere seven hours, their headquarters are brought down and Earth surrenders to give way for the Combine rule.]]
114	* The United Nations in ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' founded both [[OneWorldOrder the Unified Earth Government]] (UEG) and the UN Space Command (UNSC); the UEG absorbed its parent organization into one of its branches, but was itself eventually subsumed during the Human-Covenant War — by the ''UNSC'', which now rules all of humanity in the Orion Arm. After the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC officially ceded ultimate authority back into the UEG, but WordOfGod states the former has not yet actually given up any real power.
115	* ''VideoGame/MissionCritical'' is based on the idea of UN waging a war with TheAlliance (which includes US) over AI research and slowly winning thanks to superior AttackDrone technology. UN believes that AI research will lead to Armageddon and wishes to ban it worldwide, while the Alliance pretty much takes a page out of Patrick Henry's book (i.e. "Give me liberty or give me death").
116	* In ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', the UN was able to unilaterally form and disband the eponymous organization, and enforces the global prohibition against vigilante activity. After Overwatch is disbanded, the UN funds Helix Security, a private security firm, to act as a worldwide peacekeeping/paramilitary organization. Justified by the global nature of threats in the setting making it infeasible for most individual countries to deal with problems on their own, as well as the general trend of globalization.
117	* The UN Peacekeepers faction in ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'', which -- like any other faction -- you can develop from a single colony into [[OneWorldOrder a world government]]. They consider themselves to be the true representatives of the UN, and their leader Pravin Lal (former NumberTwo aboard the ''Unity'') has the title Commissioner.
118	* The [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]] to the ''[=Starfight=]'' series has UN's influence grow to such an extent that, in 2040, all members except for the [[MakeTheBearAngryAgain Soviet States of Russia]] agree to hand over all means of political control to direct UN supervision. The SSR is left out of the new UN. In response to widespread criticism of the UN oversight, the UN shuts down the Internet to "secure government interests". By 2128, after the discovery of FTLTravel, the UN creates its own SpaceNavy, which rivals the SSR fleet by a large margin. In 2169, the UN invades the SSR, with a few political leaders managing to flee to the recently colonized planet Mezen, becoming the Soviet States of Mezen. A decade later, the UN declares a monopoly on all FTL travel except for the SpaceNavy and two {{Mega Corp}}s. A failed AlienInvasion and a massive war with the SSM later, both the UN and the SSM cease to exist after Earth and Mezen are bombed back to the Stone Age by AI-controlled warships. The civilization on Earth is eventually rebuilt into the Alliance of New Beginning.
119	* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', one of the two pre-generated human empires is the United Nations of Earth (UNE), a Fanatic Egalitarian and Moderately Xenophilic [[TheRepublic Representative Democracy]]. Pre-FTL civilizations of the "Fragmented Nations" government type are implied to have [[FictionalUnitedNations their own equivalent to the (pre-superpower) UN]] since their Ruler is known as a "Secretary".
120	* ''VideoGame/XCom'' features the titular e'''X'''tra-terrestrial '''COM'''bat Unit, a multinational paramilitary group founded by a "Council of Nations" in order to combat an AlienInvasion. This is subverted, however, as the unit is top-secret and not publicly acknowledged. Notably, XCOM is only established after all independent efforts to combat the aliens fail - Japan for example tried to form their own elite alien-fighting unit, the "Kiryu-Kai," but disbanded the group after five months without downing a single UFO.
121	** Subsequent games feature XCOM as a permanent Military/Weapons Research branch of the UN, and eventually the [[OneWorldOrder Planetary Government]], playing this trope straight.
122	** The reboot series starting with ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' reverts XCOM to a special operations group, with research and manufacturing capacity. But in the sequel ''VideoGame/XCOM2'', set in a VichyEarth scenario after canonically losing in Enemy Unknown, XCOM veterans end up leading a global resistance against the alien regime, and the victory cinematic has rebel fighters raising an XCOM flag rather than any national banner and establishing an interim global military dictatorship after the invading forces are defeated. By ''VideoGame/XCOMChimeraSquad'', XCOM has fully transitioned to a global peacekeeping force, which answers to every state on Earth but is otherwise the de-facto military arm of the entire planet.
123	* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Ketsui}}'', where the U.N. is helpless to stop WorldWarIII, which had been intentionally instigated by the munitions dealer and manufacturer EVAC Industry selling its firepower to all participants of the war. In order to avert the crisis, they send in a few elite pilots to covertly infiltrate the company.
124	* ''VideoGame/Zone66'': The opening text states that borders and nations have little meaning in the 22nd century, and United Nations has evolved into a World Council, which governs the whole Earth.
125	[[/folder]]
126
127	[[folder:Webcomics]]
128	* The ''United Nations of Sol'' in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' is the primary human military power in the galaxy and has several [[TheBattlestar Battleplates]] the size of Manhattan that can crack planets. Also the protagonists frequently end up entangled in their top-secret research projects. Its leadership is a chaotic mess of multiple legislatures with overlapping field of authority, leaving the military and intelligence branches to operate pretty much on the whims of its admirals and generals.
129	** There is also "The League of Galactics", which contextually is taken about as seriously as the League of Nations would be were it still around.
130	--->'''Breya:''' [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-06-16 Petey, if you start harboring fugitives, the U.N.S. and the League of Galactics will assign you "Rogue State" status.]]\
131	'''Petey:''' "Rogue" sounds pretty cool. Can I wear an eyepatch to meetings?\
132	'''Breya:''' Petey, you're not taking this seriously.\
133	'''Petey:''' Hey, you said "League of Galactics" before I said "eyepatch." You started it.
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:Web Original]]
137	* ''Website/TheOnion'' published a story about [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/un-acquires-nuclear-weapon,2638/ United Nations acquiring a nuclear weapon]] so they "will no longer be ignored".
138	* In the Website/SCPFoundation universe, the Global Occult Coalition is backed by the United Nations and is considered to be one of the Foundation's most powerful competitors.
139	[[/folder]]

Context Main / UnitedNationsIsASuperpower