Global Policy and the United Nations Security Council

An Examination of the Changing Perception of Global Security
and the
Necessity of Security Council Change

Giji Gya, 1999, 2001

Introduction | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Conclusion
Table 1A | Table 1B | Table 2 | Appendices | Thesis Index

Introduction

"The focus of the post-Cold War United Nations, he realised, should be on human security - not just the security of the states which are members of the UN, but the security of populations within states."(1)

Bruce Russett commenting on James Sutterlin

 

Institutional reform in international systems seems to move in historical cycles. It becomes a salient issue at the end of eras of major inter-state war, in order to address the cause of conflict and to try and implement a system to avoid such disaster again. Reforms often revive Wilsonian idealism in the striving for world peace, particularly after conflict. (2) Although essentially non-combative, the Cold War was a significant global conflict, yet there has been no expression of the cycle of reform after the Cold War to replace the United Nations. "Until recently, projects to establish some kind of institutionalised international system were undertaken in the wake of world wars...but no institutionalised international system emerged to replace the system which reflected the balance of power prevailing in the wake of World War II." (3)

This outdated power is entrenched at the core of the current global institution, the United Nations Security Council. Thus, initiation of reform to address the changing security climate of today is unlikely to come from the historical cycle and must come from an examination of a changing definition and climate of security.

This thesis then, will address the direction and the means of this needed reform through the following points of inquiry:

The executive branch of the UN, the Security Council, is also its core decision faculty in matters of security. To address the changing perspective of the policies of nation-states from collective state defence security to one of a global policy for cooperative human security, requires reform of nation-state based provisions in the UN - in particular the veto of the Permanent members (P5) of the Security Council - to enhance its ability to credibly, legitimately and democratically focus on world community interests. Reform of the Security Council places the focus of global policy in this thesis firmly in a political perspective, as the Council’s composition and veto power, the subjects of reform, still reflect the political powers of the post WWII era and nation-state bias of sovereignty or primacy of the state over human rights. Global policy on international peace and security should reflect democratic practices of equity, with majority voting undertaken in the interests of human security as a priority - with no individual veto or threat of veto residing in the body which makes and implements such policy decisions.

Former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali comments: "How can we ask nations to accept democratic practices within their borders if they see no hope for democracy among nations?" (4) Only through elimination of veto power can a redefined security be honoured, and a further reform of enlargement of the Council be implemented to allow for a better equity in representation of global interests of human security.

Resources

Although there are many texts on reform of the UN, few deal specifically with the issue of veto reform of the Security Council in a global policy perspective. (5) Many texts consider the question of the veto in a broad framework, but seldom go beyond a one to two page discussion of its use. This analysis addresses that gap, and the author’s personal experience of the UN and meetings with members of the Security Council also provide a perspective not often given by scholars on the subject. Primary sources are UN documentation, including statements and speeches of Security Council members past and present; the author’s correspondence with Dr. James A. Paul, executive director of the Global Policy Forum,(6) a New York based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) accredited to the UN; an interview with Counsellor Claudio Bisognerio of the Italian Permanent Mission to the UN conducted by the author and Dr James Paul; and personal conversations with UN staff while working for the Global Policy Forum from January to March 1999. Secondary sources include texts and opinion pieces of various NGOs, international political journalists and works of political analysts and scholars on the UN.

Chapter Outlines – Points of Examination

The body of the thesis consists of four Chapters. Chapter One introduces a redefinition of security and discusses a shift from a sovereignty as primacy of the state to that as primacy of global human security for citizen’s within and across states, and the transformation or evolution of the nation-state to a rising global authority. Chapter Two outlines the creation of the Security Council, the veto and previous reforms and assesses the Council’s post-Cold War activities. Chapter Three analyses the political dynamics of the Security Council and the problems of national biases of the P5. Using aspects of democracy and legitimacy, this Chapter illustrates the necessity for veto reform of this power core of the UN to be consistent with a renewed global policy on international peace emphasising cooperative human security over nation-state defensive security. It further illustrates this with the Kosovo conflict, where the threat of the veto eroded the authority of the Council, culminating in NATO intervention without prior UN Security Council approval. Chapter Four argues that the improvement of democracy, legitimacy, credibility, efficiency and accountability of the Council, requires an incremental elimination of the use of the veto which abuses these principles. Proposals and opinions on the veto reform are then outlined. The conclusion then summarises that for a global policy on international peace and security, the privilege of the P5 veto power and permanency must be phased out with reform for a democratic Council. Other reforms can then seek greater equity of member representation on the Security Council.

Next Chapter | Introduction Endnotes

 

Appendices | Thesis Index

Introduction | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Conclusion
Table 1A | Table 1B | Table 2

Endnotes for Introduction

1) Bruce Russett, “Preface”, in James S. Sutterlin, The United Nations and the Maintenance of International Security – A Challenge to be Met, Praeger Publishers, Westport, USA, 1995, pp.vii-xii; p.xi.

2) The establishment of the League of Nations at the end of WWI, was based in Woodrow Wilson's 'idealist' conceptions of collective security bringing world peace, as no state wished to re-experience the horrors of the war.

3) Mohammad Sid-Ahmed, “P-5 Veto Outdated”, Al-Ahram, Cairo, Egypt, July 8-14, 1999. www.globalpolicy.org/security/reform/ahmed.htm (27 September 1999).

4) Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Unvanquished: A U.S.-U.N. Saga, Random House, NY, 1999, p.320.

5) Many books are written from a national interest perspective of member states, for example, Jeffrey Laurenti, Reforming the Security Council: What American Interests?, UNA-USA Publications, NY, 1997, and Takahiro Shinyo, “Reforming the Security Council – A Japanese Perspective” in Ramesh Thakur (ed.), The United Nations at Fifty – Retrospect and Prospect, University of Otago Press, Dunedin, New Zealand, 1996, pp. 201-216; or address the problems of efficiency of UN Peace Keeping Operations and financing of such, or the debates on intervention, or amendment of the Charter. References which best cover Security Council veto reform are Bruce Russett (ed) The Once and Future Security Council, St Martin's Press, New York, 1994, Part VI “The Reform of the Security Council” in Paul Taylor, Sam Daws and Ute Adamczick-Gertieis (eds) Documents on Reform of the United Nations, Dartmouth, Hants, England, 1997, pp.415-470; and Bardo Fassbender, UN Security Council Reform and the Right of Veto: a constitutional perspective, Khumer Law International, Hague, Boston, 1998. The few texts which analyse the veto include: the definitive text on Security Council procedures which includes a section on veto reform - Sydney D. Bailey and Sam Daws, The Procedure of the UN Security Council, 3rd Edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1998; and Anjali V. Patil, The UN Veto in World Affairs, 1946-1990: a complete record and case histories of the Security Council's veto, UNIFO Publishers, London, 1992.

6) The Global Policy Forum is the Chair of the NGO Working Group on the Security Council, which meets several times a month with current members of the UN Security Council, including the monthly President.

© Giji Gya 2000

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Contact: Giji Gya (BPPM Hons.)