Problem: What made it difficult for the United Nations to uphold collective security issues during the Cold War? Need Assignment Help? The United Nations was too new to be effective. The Soviet Union boycotted the United Nations. The bipolarity of the era generally made it likely that the United States or the Soviet Union would veto any such motion. The states that had security issues during the Cold War were not yet members of the organization. There were not many collective security issues during the Cold War.