The Purpose of the Atlantic Charter

The Purpose of the Atlantic Charter

Franklin Roosevelt, a former president of the USA and Winston Churchill, a former Prime minister of the United Kingdom, signed the Atlantic Charter. During the world war two nations began to think of the future of countries after the world war. The president and the prime minister met to brainstorm on the future of their countries. The meeting led to the signing of the Atlantic Charter, which has both strengths and weaknesses.

THE PURPOSE OF THE ATLANTIC CHARTER

The leaders signed the Atlantic charter with the aim of having a better future for their countries and affiliates. The ammunition policies adopted by Hitler and his allies had brought great fear and danger among individuals and nations. The Charter had common principles that the leaders believed would present a guideline for the future of its citizens and the world. The document contained eight policies that would govern how countries would relate with each other, promote the rights of the citizens as well as reduce the suffering of individuals brought by violence and use of force and ammunitions. Further, the Charter provided a vision for postwar world where peace would prevail.

THE STRENGTHS OF THE ATLANTIC CHARTER

The strengths of the charter include that it recognized respect of the rights of citizens and peaceful coexistence between neighbors. The contents of the charter were geared towards promoting peace. Further, allied nations supported the charter implying that they supported the policies. Moreover, the charter contained principles, which envisioned world integration and respect to every country’s borders. Additionally, the Charter created the basics for which other international organizations like the United Nations was founded.

THE WEAKNESSES OF THE ATLANTIC CHARTER

On the other hand, the charter had some limitations. The charter was signed between two nations the USA and the United Kingdom. The views of neighboring countries were not considered and the document would be viewed as just for the participating parties and not the world. Further, the policies advocated for the ability to travel widely even though it was not clear that other countries would open up its boundaries to foreigners. Additionally, the intention of the charter might have been misinterpreted as the policies were drafted during the Second World War. Non-allied countries would have viewed the document as a strategy by the countries to win the war. Conclusively, the even though the document had limitations it gave a proposal on the future of the world after the war.

CONCLUSION

The leaders who signed the Atlantic Charter wanted it to serve the purpose of ensuring a better future for these nations and the affiliates. It contained principles that dictated how nations should relate to one another and also on how the rights of the citizens should be promoted. The strengths of the charter included a focus to human rights and promotion of principles that guided how nations should relate to one another. Its weaknesses of the charter included that it was only between two nations ignoring all the neighboring countries and the possibility of misinterpretation of the purpose of the charter given that it was drafted during the world war.

 

Works Cited

The Atlantic Charter. Declaration of Principles issued by the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. N.d.