Evolution and Relevance of the United Nations Security Council - Essay Example

Evolution and Relevance of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Since its inception, the United Nations has always played an active role in peace building and peace keeping across the globe. Through the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), which currently consists of 15 members, it has made revolutionary resolutions in the past and it continues to oversee global peace and understanding (United Nations Security Council, 2015). Through peacekeeping sanctions, UNSC has managed international conflicts responsibly and effectively though the body has been widely accused of taking sides or working for the interests of a few powerful and permanent members (Global Policy Forum, 2015). Contrary to what some accusers allege about the activeness of the Security Council, UNSC is not a dormant body and has undergone evolution over the years to surmount the contemporary needs and challenges. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has come a long way to be where it is now, considering that the first session of the body took place back in 1946. The primary objective of founding the UNSC was to vest powers to an independent body that was capable of maintaining global security and peace. The United Nations has six key organs, including the UNSC, which perhaps is tasked with the highest responsibilities (Wet, 2004). For instance the United Nations Security Council is mandated to vet and approve new members and participate in the amendment of the United Nations charter. It implies that only the UNSC has the powers to approve or disfavor any changes that have been made to the UN Charter. This is a huge responsibility considering that the UN Charter guides many member states across the globe (United Nations Security Council, 2015). Just like any other international body serving nations with vested interests, the United Nations has not escaped the wrath of the critics, who term it as an undemocratic body. Given the global reputation that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has to maintain, such wild allegations have been a major concern, considering that no nation ought to influence the decisions made by the body at any level (Hurd, 2007). If the United Nations or the United Kingdom appears to be high handed as far as the operations and decisions made by UNSC are concerned, the other nations, especially nations that are not permanent members of the body, will cry foul and feel betrayed. In this regard, the UN has tried to maintain a beyond reproach integrity over the years (Manusama, 2006).  Perhaps some critics are right in the sense that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has only five permanent members yet it has been in existence since 1945. It means that the body is either dormant in accepting new members, or it is too restrictive for other states to join. Currently, the five permanent members of UNSC include the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Russian Federation, and France. Owing to the fact that the veto power is a reserve of the permanent members, critics claim that the body is undemocratic (United Nations, & Wellens, 2001). The critics argue that the decisions and resolutions of the United Nations are too big to be left in the hand of five powerful nations. As presently constituted, the Security Council guarantees veto power to powerful nations to perform and oversee a number of critical functions namely creating international sanctions, initiating military action, and overseeing peacekeeping operations across the globe (United Nations Security Council, 2015). According to Global Policy Forum (2015), Security Council of the United Nations primarily upholds peace across the globe and this is the highest responsibility that the United Nations has ever delegated to one of its body. One can allude, by virtue of responsibility, that the Security Council is the most powerful of all the UN bodies. For the last twenty-five years, the Security Council has significantly increased its participation in global security discourses and initiatives. In essence the meeting sessions by the UNSC members have been more or less continuous in recent past, owing to the level of threat to security across the globe. The 21st century has seen the revival of global terrorism to a different scale that has necessitated active involvement of the UNSC. Besides, various conflicts within nations such as civil wars in Africa have also caught the attention of the UNSC, which has in turn taken the necessary peacekeeping and building steps to end such wars (Wet, 2004). In order to understand the relevance and participation of the Security Council, it pays to look at the background of the body, especially during the periods of its formation and after. Prior to the formation of the UN Security Council, the world often ran into crisis, particularly when it came to conflict resolution in the 19th century. Such international treaty organizations as Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, and the International Committee of the Red Cross came in handy during conflict resolution among various nations. It implies that the UNSC has played and continues to play an instrumental role in peace keeping and peace building across the globe, considering that its peace initiatives have been more effective than the19th century treaties. Perhaps it is worth noting that the League of Nations that was formed in Paris to foster ceasefire following massive loss of lives in World War I. However, the League of Nations failed in the sense that it faced massive rejections from the major powers of the time (United Nations, & Wellens, 2001). One would attribute the passive participation by the Security Council in Cold War to strategic reasons since there was a clear conflict of interests. The USSR and the United States, together with their allies, were in a state of war and it was difficult for the UNSC to intervene since both were powerful members of the body. However, UNSC displayed some element of partiality when it made a resolution to end the incursion by North Korean in South Korea. The body gave mandate to US in the absence of the USSR, which was also a powerful member within the body. However, the resolution was both strategic and relevant, considering the growing tension between the US and the USSR at the time (Hurd, 2007). Although the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was virtually paralyzed during the time when Russian kept on invading Hungary, the body’s resilience in ensuring international peace prevailed in a number of occasions. For instance, the United Nations deployed the largest military in history to restore peace in Congo between 1960 and 1964 and the mission was a success (Bosco, 2009). The peace operation in Cong, dubbed the United Nations Operation in the Congo (UNOC), was just part of the many operations deployed by the Council during Cold War including the Peacekeeping Force deployed in Cyprus and the UN Temporary Executive Authority in Africa, both of which commenced operation in 1964 and 1962 respectively. All these deployments by the Security Council showed commitment to international peace, particularly during Cold War period (Malone, 2004).  UN Security Council did not relent in is efforts towards global peace in Post-Cold War period in that it continued with its active involvement in various conflict zones across the globe. Owing to the gravity of the previous conflicts during the Cold War, the United Nations expanded its peace keeping duties to cover as many areas of the world as it possibly could and its performance in the last ten years of the 20th century far exceeded its collective performance during the Cold War. Besides, the onset of the 21sty century saw the doubling of the UN budget for peace keeping, implying that it was increasingly becoming relevant as far as conflict resolution was concerned. In display of renewed vigor, the UNSC strongly condemned the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in addition approving a coalition combatant force led by the United States to quench the war. The Council acted with utmost swiftness than it had ever done before since all these efforts happened on the same day of Kuwait invasion (Manusama, 2006).  Unlike the United Nations that holds its general Assembly on an annual basis, the Security Council holds meetings among member states throughout the year. The representations and locations of such meetings are enough proof that the United Nations Security Council strives to uphold the highest standards of democracy. The President of the United States, currently Barrack Obama, chairs every meeting that the UNSC holds, which is perhaps questionable yet debatable (Hurd, 2007). Since the UNSC meets year round, all the member states are mandated to send and station their representatives at the UN Headquarters in order to ensure availability and participation of member states in case of emergency meetings. Although the UN Security Council has its headquarters in New York, it has previously held its meetings in Geneva, Panama City, and Addis Ababa. Therefore, it is incorrect to insinuate that the United Nations Security Council id a dormant body (Global Policy Forum, 2015). When it comes to presidency of UN Security Council, it is worth noting that the UN body is highly dynamic in terms of the selection of its president. It embraces democratic principles because all the 2015 Presidents of the UNSC will come from different countries and nationalities. The president of the UNSC presides over the operations of the body for a period of one month after which the next president comes from the member state that is next in the alphabetical order. Since the UNSC uses alphabetical order to select its presidency, no corruption or favoritism can ever occur in such a process. Above and beyond, the alternating presidency at the UNSC is indicative of its active participation in setting the global agenda (Bosco, 2009).  Besides the active steps that UNSC has taken over the years in ensuring that global security and peace prevail, some criticisms have threatened the reputation of the UN body. Some of such criticisms have been positive while others have been outright political or malicious allegations. Some critics such as Paul Kennedy dismiss all the achievements of the UNSC claiming that the failures of the UN body long overshadowed its accomplishments (Lowe, 2008). For instance, the United Nations Security Council failed to stop the 1994 Rwanda Genocide and the infamous Bosnia Massacre, which were perhaps the lowest Post- Cold War moments for the UN body. The problem with the United Nations Security Council has always been insufficient military that can be used in case the Council makes a deployment resolution. Using such forces as the US military has proven to be a recipe for disaster and humanitarian crisis (Manusama, 2006).  Perhaps a worrying trend is that the nations with veto power have invested heavily in nuclear power and they are only five, despite the huge potential in some nations across the globe. The United States has been seen to be overtly preventing aspiring states from developing nuclear programs. It could be that a nation can become a permanent member of the Council by adopting use of nuclear power (Lowe, 2008). All the five permanent members of the UNSC are considerably restrictive in the sense that they are not willing to accommodate new members to have the veto power. Indeed, there is a deliberate intention to maintain the status quo as far as membership and representation is concerned. Critics argue strongly that the five nuclear powers, whose memberships are also permanent, are actively involved in strategies that will protect their interests as opposed to the interests of the most vulnerable members (Schweigman, 2001). Israel-Palestinian conflict is perhaps one of the most noticeable conflicts in the world that the United Nations Security Council has failed to resolve. Though the war has been intermittent, it has been raging for years, attracting global attention. Critics argue that the United States, among other permanent members, has vested interests in the Israel-Palestinian conflict hence it is reluctant to push for its end, or a permanent solution for that matter. One critic called Sir Jim McLay, who is the permanent representative to the United Nations from New Zealand, has widely criticized the lack of leadership that is evident at the UNSC making it incompetent and incapable of resolving major conflicts in the work, particularly in the Middle East (Bosco, 2009).  Although a section of the critics have accused the United Nations Security Council of being excessive in its peace keeping missions, a 2005 RAND Corporation report vindicated the body for its superb performance. The Human Security Report also vindicated exonerated from such unwarranted accusations. The study revealed that two-thirds of all the peacekeeping efforts by UNSC were successful. At least this success rate was higher when compared to the peace interventions made by the United States in the past. Additionally, the rate at which genocides, wars, and all sorts of human rights abuses dropped dramatically in Post-Cold War period primarily because the Security Council took active steps towards peace building and peace keeping globally (Global Policy Forum, 2015). Contrary to some questions raised by accusers regarding the vitality of UNSC, the Security Council is not a dormant body and has undergone evolution over the years to surmount the contemporary needs and challenges. The United Nations Security Council has made great strived towards international peace and security since its inception (Schweigman, 2001). Perhaps the Post-Cold War period has seen the UN body take active steps towards creating international peace because it has engaged all its permanent members and other representatives in creating international understanding. However, there have been criticisms against UNSC pertaining to its composition, laxity, and interests. Some of the allegations are valid in the sense that the UNSC has not fully evolved to accommodate the views and representations of all nations across the globe (Malone, 2004). In some cases, the UN body has taken sides, particularly during the Cold War. The UNSC ought to find a way of expanding the slots for its permanent members so that it can appear accommodative to all nations across the globe. In addition, the United Nations Security Council ought to make bold resolutions in regards to the numerous conflicts in the Middle East and some parts of Africa (Manusama, 2006). References Bosco, D. L. (2009). Five to rule them all: The UN Security Council and the making of the modern world. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Global Policy Forum (2015). UN Security Council. Retrieved from https://www.globalpolicy.org/security-council.html Hurd, I. (2007). After anarchy: Legitimacy and power in the United Nations Security Council. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. Lowe, A. V. (2008). The United Nations Security Council and war: The evolution of thought and practice since 1945. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Malone, D. (2004). The UN Security Council: From the Cold War to the 21st century. Boulder, Colo: Lynne Rienner. Manusama, K. (2006). The United Nations Security Council in the post-Cold War era: Applying the principle of legality. Leiden: Nijhoff. Schweigman, D. (2001). The authority of the Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter: Legal limits and the role of the International Court of Justice. The Hague: Kluwer Law International. United Nations Security Council (2015). The Security Council. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/en/sc/ United Nations, & Wellens, K. (2001). Resolutions and statements of the United Nations Security Council (1946 - 2000): A thematic guide. The Hague: Kluwer Law International. Wet, E. (2004). The chapter VII powers of the United Nations Security Council. Oxford: Hart Pub. Read More