Breaking the deadlock? – United Nations Security Council reform in the 21st century

Absztrakt (kivonat)

The United Nations Security Council plays a pivotal role in maintaining international peace and security. The role of the Security Council in the international system is unique, since its decisions are legally binding on all 193 member states, and it has such important powers as authorizing the use of force. Due to the important role of the Security Council, its composition has been under scrutiny since the 1960s. Ever since the United Nations was established in 1945, it was only reformed once, in 1965. The main criticism towards the Security Council is that it keeps representing the power relations of 1945 and thus it is not representative of the current world. Since reform has not been achieved in the last sixty years, the paper discovers the previously failed proposals and their relevance to the current reform attempts. Therefore, the research question examines what factors influence the likelihood of reforming the composition of the UNSC in the 21st century. While providing an answer to this question, the research pays special attention to analysing how the rising tensions and revisionism in the international system affect the feasibility of reforms. Regarding the methodology, the paper uses qualitative research methods. The descriptive analytical method is used to provide a comprehensive understanding of Security Council reforms based on analysing the available literature. Furthermore, the research also uses the case study method to analyse particular reform attempts. As the result of the research, the four most important factors which affect the likelihood of reforms of the Security Council are identified: the difficulties of amending the UN Charter; the nature of the reform proposal; a united front of countries supporting the proposal; and the current rising tensions and revisionism. While the first three factors were also present in previous reform proposals, the last factor gives a unique layer of analysis in the research for the likelihood of implementing reforms in the 21st century.