95bFM Musk wanting the US to leave the UN would ‘fundamentally question the legitimacy of the current world order’
23 March, 2025
Interview by Sasha Mengazetdinov, adapted by Sara Mckoy
After tech billionaire and close Trump ally, Elon Musk, recently expressed support for the notion that the United States should leave the UN, Associate Professor in Global Studies at the University of Auckland, Chris Ogden, expresses concerns about what this would mean for international order. Image: Elon Musk (2022) - Wikimedia Commons
Senior Advisor to the President of the United States, Elon Musk, has recently announced that he wants the US to leave NATO and the United Nations (UN).
This comes as the Trump administration has left the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UN Human Rights Council, and the UNRWA - the Palestinian relief agency, while also cutting 90% of USAID contracts, and denying recognising the International Criminal Court.
Musk’s attentions have left many wondering what would happen if the United States were to leave the UN.
Associate Professor in Global Studies at the University of Auckland, Chris Ogden, told 95bFM’s The Wire that if the US were to leave the UN, this would “fundamentally question the legitimacy of the current world order.”
“The Trump regime wants to try and remake the world and they want to do it quickly.”
“The more chaos there can be, the more they will be able to push their particular agendas and distract the world from that agenda taking place either domestically or internationally.”
Ogden says the UN, which was founded in 1945, is fundamentally centred around US values of democracy and liberty.
However, he says in the contemporary political arena, especially as witnessed through the Trump administration, US activities on both domestic and international levels contradict the basic ideals that underpin the UN framework.
“[Trump] is not a consensus-based politician. He's impatient, he's intolerant, he wants to force his view, and he believes that he has the power and the strength to do that. All of those values are completely antithetical to the United Nations”.
As Musk continues exerting more and more influence on political affairs in the nation, Ogden considers how cost-cutting regimes, such as Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency, are negatively affecting the US’ attitude towards the UN, in which they contribute $12.5 billion, or $21 billion New Zealand dollars, annually.
If the US were to leave the UN and undertake a more ‘America First’ approach to international political engagement, Ogden says this would usher in a new multipolar era with a vast array of consequences for international cooperation.
“It will lead to a much more polarised international system, with no clear kind of policemen, and much more space for infractions of international law, infractions relating to civil war, infractions relating to human rights abuses.”
This could generate significant challenges for collaborative multinational efforts against global issues like the climate crisis, growing wealth inequality, and international security.
As public polling indicates that only half of Americans still hold a favourable opinion of the UN and the US’ inclusion in UN institutions has transcended political partisanship which often undercuts the popularity of critical political decisions, Ogden says a US exit from the United Nations may be a very real possibility.
