The United Nations Security Council: Need for Reform in Light of Ongoing Developments in International Law (original) (raw)

Prospects and Challenges of Reforming The UN: Focus on the Veto Power in The Security Council

2015

The United Nations was created in 1945 as a global organization with a number of objectives and principles that reflect commitments ranging from the cause of international peace and security to the betterment of human life in all endeavors. The creation of the UN at that time was a remarkable achievement to the global society. Looking back at the UN's past 69 years work it is quite easy to testify that this global organization has achieved a lot in fulfilling its objectives and principles. But, from the moment of its establishment, the organization faced criticisms most of which can be classified as philosophical. Latter, critics started to focus towards its work, the implementation of the UN Charter as it is written, and also others related with the function of each subsidiary organs and the UN staffs working in these organs. Without ignoring the changes that the UN has promoted and achieved globally, the critics that focus on the remaining tasks that this organization shall accomplish are well established considering the expectation that we have towards this global institution. Additionally, the continuing change in the global geopolitical and economic realities gives a compelling reason towards the reform of this organization for the better. Even if there are critics and reform proposals calling for the reform of many of the UN organs, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the UN organ that attracted very much serious and long time proposals of reform. Being the main organ of the UN at the core of protecting global peace and security, the UNSC has entertained too many criticisms and reform proposals towards its composition, membership, voting rights, working method and other related issues. But, among all the issues within the UNSC reform discussions, the Veto power of the permanent five of the council is the most contentious issue. Since its creation, the UNSC was reformed only once in 1965 when its membership rose from 11 to 15. The geopolitical reality that existed in 1945 justifies the structure of the UNSC as a global Collective Security organization. As the most powerful states in the time and the winners of WWII, it is quite easy to understand how the permanent five managed to create such kind of collective security organization that protects their interest with a voting privilege called the Veto Power. The rules of charter amendment in the UN Charter are also another strong protection CHAPTER ONE

UN Security Council reform: the political and the desire to be seized of the matter

Sul Global, 2020

The international political order has been 'normalized' through a number of principles that constitute our international legal and normative framework. The United Nations became one of the main sources of legitimacy informing the relation between states. This paper explores the role of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in the universalization of rules and principles, and as a sovereign center where decisions on the normal and abnormal behaviors and subjectivities in the international are made. By identifying and regulating what constitutes the exception to the rule and to international peace and security, the permanent members of the UNSC find themselves in a position to also define the limits of normality in international politics. Developing further on these premises, we argue that the campaign for a reform of the UNSC sheds light on the political domain of the 'international order', a domain of dispute, undecidability, and potentiality.

The United Nations Security Council: History, Current Composition, and Reform Proposals

The Changing Global Order, 2019

The paper explores how the Security Council has reacted to the changing global order in terms of institutional reform and its working methods. First, we look at how the Security Council's setup looks increasingly anachronistic against the tremendous shifts in global power. Yet, established and rising powers are not disengaging. In contrast, they are turning to the Council to address growing challenges posed by the changing nature of armed conflict, the surge of terrorism and foreign fighters, nuclear proliferation and persistent intra-state conflicts. Then, we explore institutional and political hurdles for Council reform. While various reform models have been suggested, none of them gained the necessary global support. Instead, we demonstrate how the Council has increased the representation of emerging powers in informal ways. Potential candidates for permanent seats and their regional counterparts are committed as elected members, peacekeeping contributors or within the Peacebuilding Commission. Finally, we analyze how innovatively the Council has reacted to global security challenges. This includes working methods reform, expansion of sanctions regimes and involvement of non-state actors. We conclude that even though the Council's membership has not yet been altered, it has reacted to the changing global order in ways previously unaccounted for.

UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL: NEW APPROACH TO INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY

Adeleke University Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (AUJSSH), 2016

In the wake of bigotry, fundamentalism, unilateralism, brazen terror attacks witnessed recently in most part of the world, the issue of international security has been brought to the front burner of global discourse. The seeming waning role of the United Nations Security Council in the face of these international challenges provides a compelling reason to revalidate the United Nations Security Council's role as the umpire and guarantor of international security. Central to this discourse are a wide range of controversies. This study limits itself to the controversies surrounding the call for the Council to democratize and reflect the current or de facto power capabilities of the current members of the United Nations Security Council as well as the need for the Council to reflect variations in the view of the expanded membership of the United Nations General Assembly. In discussing these issues, the paper argues that there is a dire need to spread the number of the permanent members of the Council to accommodate at least one representative from each of the continents. This includes also the need for transparency in its decision making apparatus, through application of checks and balances, as well as the use of simple majority vote needed to counter arbitrariness in the use of veto power. It concludes however on the optimistic hope that the political will and understanding of the existing permanent members would be needed to effect these rather far-reaching reorganizations of the Council.

The UN Security Council; Time to Reform

“…The problem of reforming the Security Council is rather akin to a situation in which a number of doctors gather around a patient and all agree on the diagnosis, but they cannot agree on the prescription. The diagnosis is clear: the Security Council reflects the geopolitical realities of 1945 and not of today.” – Shashi Tharoor, former UN Diplomat The UN Security Council is inconsistent with its aim of promoting democracy and stability and demonstrates the outdated governance structure, which undermines the organization’s legitimacy, and further - its effectiveness.

United Nations Security Council Reform Revisited: A Proposal

Diplomacy & Statecraft, 2019

The United Nations [UN] came into being following the Second World War. Resembling earlier efforts of cooperation by the most powerful states of the international system, it was an attempt to effect global governance through the maintenance of international peace and security amongst states. However, led by its main executive organ, the Security Council, the UN has been unable to prevent and effectively deal with armed conflicts and mass atrocities in a number of situations. Over the years, the inability of the UN Security Council to take collective action has resulted in its ineffectiveness in dealing with war and humanitarian crises. This situation has led to calls for Security Council reform and has generated several initiatives to that end. This analysis discusses major shortcomings of the Security Council, analyses prominent reform initiatives, and introduces a proposal, the "Two-Layered Regional Model," for Security Council reform.

THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL: NEED FOR A REFORM?

This paper investigates the pressing issue of the existing structure of the UN Security Council, highlighting the growing demand for a more inclusive, efficient, and representative body. It delves into potential reforms, examining the associated challenges and concerns that must be addressed in order to improve the council's effectiveness and global representation.

SOME PERSPECTIVES ON THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM PROPOSALS

Iustinianus Primus Law Review vol.13, is.2, 2022

The calls for reform of the UN Security Council, which are as old as the organization itself, have been in the international spotlight again with the wars in Syria and Ukraine and the vetoes that Russia (and China) used to block any measure regarding them. In this paper, I will briefly present and critically discuss the three groups of proposals that are mostly given for reforming the Council: the enlargement proposals, the proposals for reforms of the working methods of the Council, and the proposals for reforms of the veto. All of these proposals have some merit (albeit different) and try to address some deficiency in the functioning or design of the Council. Therefore, despite the low likelihood of success, all of these reform proposals should be pursued because they (at the very least) serve as a tool for putting pressure on the permanent members to uphold their responsibilities that to the UN and the international community as a whole.

THE REFORM OF THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL: FLAWS AND OBSTACLES

This paper seeks to examine the flaws of the UN Security Council, the reform proposals especially from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the two models by the UN High-Level panel and the obstacles to the reform of the UN Security Council.