What you don't understand about the UN What is the U.N.? According to Prof. Jia Lieying, head of China's first university-based U.N. research institute, the U.N. has three facets. There's the democratic General Assembly where all nations vote equally. There's the Security Council run by major countries. And then there's the 80,000 international civil servants devoted to the organization's mission. That's why the U.N. can appear both powerful and helpless at the same time, Jia says. | China Says