Failures of the United Nations Security Council
Permanent Members Over the Years
By
INTRODUCTION
The United Nations comprises six core organs, including the Security Council with the most influential voice in the organization. “The Security Council Shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, decide what measures shall be taken in the accordance with articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security” (Tamsin, pp.1). Since the inception of the United Nations on October 25, 1945, the Security Council has been one of the significant six main bodies of the UN (United Nations) The United Nations has played a huge role in confronting global security issues, simultaneously, but has also failed to resolve and prevent some global conflicts. In this paper, I will address the Security Council’s failures over three distinct world events involving the Cold War, post-Cold War, and the present global power distribution.
To understand the United Nations, an intergovernmental organization founded in part to address the weaknesses and inability of the League of Nations to prevent World War II, one must accept its structural limitations. The League of Nations collapsed because of inability to move beyond being a talking shop as well as the United States’ refusal to join the League. While the UN used the failure of the League as an important lesson and weakness that it had to address, it created its own limitations in the process. The UN, like its predecessor, upholds universal harmony and cooperation among nation-states. There were eleven member-states when it was created. Six out of the eleven were non- permanent members and the remaining five were permanent members. Presently, there are fifteen nation-states that operate under the umbrella of the Security Council. Five of the fifteen are permanent members: the United States, United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia; all have veto power. Its primary goal is to preserve the peace and security around the globe, it strongly depends on these five permanent members to reach a consensus. Without it, conflicts could not be resolved.
The Bipolar World - COLD WAR ERA
A bipolar order is when two nation-states of equal power compete for dominance in all areas, vying to fulfill their national interests and aspirations at the expense of others. The bipolar world occurred during the Cold-War. The United States and the Soviet Union were the two dominant forces of the bipolarity era. The Cold War era that began in 1947 involved the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR), which emerged as the two global superpowers of the bipolar world. The two nation-states became the bipolar nations competing for geopolitical powers that control the global military, economic, and ideological political arena. The initial challenges faced by the UN were products of the new Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. “During the Cold War, the UN Security Council was often viewed as weak and ineffectual, paralyzed by opposition of its permanent members” (Gordon, Yale Journal of International Affairs, December 1, 2024). The United States operated as a liberal democracy ideology while the Soviet Union we under the sway of communism. Even though the United States and the Soviet Union were able to avoid direct military confrontation, other, smaller nations’ territories were utilized for proxy wars. Collateral damage resulted; lives lost, communities disrupted, property destroyed, the toll of which continues. While all these conflicts were unfolding, the United Nations Security Council, created primarily to alleviate such conflicts, has failed miserably in this obligation. The United States and the Soviet Union, as two permanent members of the Security Council, allowed their different political and economic ideologies to disrupt the global order. I will focus on a few nation-states impacted by the Cold War and the failure of the Security Council P-5 to prevent those lethal conflicts.
One of the first major challenges of the UN Security Council was the escalation of the Vietnam War, and particularly the US intervention. The Vietnam War began before the UN was founded in 1945 and one that finally ended in 1975. The United Nations Security Council’s failure to prevent the catastrophic, spreading, and protracted conflict in Vietnam was partly due to North and South Vietnam, as separate entities, were not member states of the UN. In addition, the United States, and the Soviet Union involvement in the war, as two permanent members, made it impossible to fashion an impactful resolution. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was grounded on promoting their ideological and geopolitical global influence, without concern for destruction the conflict ushered it. The United States supported South Vietnam while the Soviet Union backed North Vietnam. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union prevented the end of the conflict. As superpowers and Security Council permanent members, they could not agree on a settlement to end the bloodshed.
Mirroring of the bloody and protracted US intervention in Vietnam was the decade-long Soviet and Afghan War that began in 1979. The invasion of Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was a war of dominance. The Soviets invaded to support its installed pro-Soviet government in power, one not necessarily in the best interests of the Afghan people. The only way the United Nations could intervene in the Soviet intrusion was through the United Nations General Assembly. With the Soviets Union as a P-5 permanent member, it was extremely unlikely that the Council could pass a credible resolution to prevent war. “After failing to achieve military victory, the Soviet Union cut its losses and withdrew” (Grau and Jalali, p. 11). Even though the General Assembly passed a resolution in 1980 that demanded for the immediate complete Soviet withdrawal of the Soviet, the Soviets refused to abide by it. It is not a surprise that the resolution had no standing. The Soviets’ defiance to the resolution shows once again the ineffectiveness of the Security Council, especially when it involves one of its permanent members.
THE US HEGEMONY – Post- Cold War Era
As the United States emerged as a superpower country Post-Cold War era in 1989, the world order became more manageable than the Cold War era. “The United States has entered the new century as the world’s lone superpower” (Ikenberry, Princeton University Press, p. 20). Post-Cold War, even though the United States could unilaterally make a military decision against any nation without any objection and ramification, instead it decided to spread and promote international order of liberal democracy among nation-states. During the United States’ hegemony period beginning from the 1990, the United Nations Security Council were more decisive and efficient in their decision-making process. “During the Cold-War, the United States and the Soviet Union restrained each other, whereas now “’the US can do anything it wants” (Ikenberry, p. 72). Several global conflicts during the US unipolarity were resolved quickly compared to the Cold War era. The United States as the global unilateral leader does not infer that world order was fully peaceful, but there was a sense of orderliness in the international arena. There were numerous conflict resolutions that took place during the United States’ hegemony era. However, I will only be elaborating on two nation-states’ conflicts that the UNSC permanent members under the leadership of the United States were able to intervene and resolve decisively. Persian Gulf War (Iraq – Kuwait War) and Bosnia War (Bosnia – Herzegovina War). After the Soviet Union was dissolved, it is vital to point out that Russia was seated as one of the permanent members of the Security Council.
The administration then proposed and implemented a series of UNSC resolutions imposing strict multilateral economic sanctions on Iraq under Chapter VII of the UN Charter” (Lorenzo, pp.5). The international intervention of this war would not have happened without the United States leadership. The United States as the global superpower made it less difficult in bringing international bodies together to achieve a common goal. Unlike the Cold-War era, the UNSC was unable to pass resolutions in resolving conflicts. “In the early years of the UN, the most obvious reason for the failure to implement the Charter provisions for forces directly under Security Council control was the inability of the Permanent Members of the Council to reach agreement across the Cold War divide” (Lowe et al. pp.129). The Gulf War was the first main global conflict that occurred Post-Cold War, which eventually resulted in many casualties. Due to the American’s unchallenged dominance, it was able to coalesce a coalition force to fight against Sadam Hussein. The ability of the US to assert its hegemony influence exhibits a great distinction between the unipolar and bipolar’s world order.
“Spurred by U.S. leadership, a peace agreement was signed in December 1995 authorizing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to intervein” (Cody, p. 3). The quotation proves my point about the effectiveness of the United States being the hegemony of the global bodies. The primary reason for the failure of the United Nation to intervene was because of the Security Council’s permanent members’ inability to get to a consensus with their veto powers. As I have alluded, all the permanent members must be on the same page before anything can be done. Historically, China and Russia have often been antagonists to the United States when it comes to resolving international issues.
THE US DOMINANCE CHALLENGED - Present Global Power System
The US dominance has been challenged not just by other nation- states, like Russia and China, but also by rogue nation-states, such as Iran and North Korea. Irrefutably, China poses the most threat to the U.S. global dominance. “However, all major regional powers do share one item on their political agenda: How to deal with the U.S. power” Until these states can produce a counterpoise to the United States, the system is unipolar” (Wohlforth, p. 36). I do not think most people still deem the United States as the only superpower in our contemporary world presently while some will counter that argument that the U.S. is still the most dominant global force. The U.S. influence has waned since the invasion Afghanistan and specifically the Iraq invasion that was unsanctioned by the international community. It is accurate to point out that China has worked its way up militarily and economically to be at that level of superpower status just as the United States has been for decades. Global power has shifted from a unipolar US hegemony to the current bipolar/multipolar order. The United States and China have proven and shown to be ahead of every other nation economically or militarily. From my observation, I deduced that international relations and international order have become anarchic when more than one nation-state emerges as the global power. The present global order is like the Cold War era, whereby the United Nations Security Council’s permanent members were ineffective in maintaining the international order. That is like what we are experiencing presently with conflict between Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Hamas in Gaza just to mention a few, that the UNSC still unable to resolve.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine serves to illustrates my argument that the emergence of multiple hostile powers destabilizes the international system. “A UN Security Council resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and urging its immediate withdrawal from the former Soviet state was vetoed by Russia on Friday” (Jiji Press America, 2022). The resolution was drafted and presented to the United Nations by the United States. This type of behavior that Russia exhibited by exercising its veto power further shows how ineffective and weak the United Nations has continued to be when it comes to protecting, maintaining world order. The failure of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to effectively perform its primary duties has continued to render the United Nations useless. As a result of this, the United Nations Security Council’s permanent member inability to prevent Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in a lot of casualties. In addition to that, the millions of Ukrainians displaced, numerous losses of property, and total ruin of structural buildings was also tragic. There have been hundreds of thousands of Russian casualties as well. The war has also led to mental illnesses among the Ukrainian population, which is due to traumatic events they are encountering in the war. In the presence of numerous casualties, especially the indiscriminate killings of civilians’ population, the United Nations continues to remain unproductive. This is another notable example of the permanent member of the UNSC’s failure to uphold its obligations in preventing transnational conflicts. As we know, the conflict does not show any signs of ending any time soon, which continues to lead to collateral damage primarily on the Ukrainian side. Russia as one of the permanent members makes it difficult to attain a positive resolution.” The structure of the UNSC has hampered the use of the veto as an extreme measure to end the suffering of Ukraine’s citizens due to Russia’s invasion” (Erameh et al. pp.14). It shows the dysfunctional and inability of the United Nations Security Councils’ permanent members to live up to its commitments especially when more than one actor is vying for global dominance. The commitments of preserving the world order in terms of tranquility and safety of humanity have not been effectively met by the UNSC.
The current and ongoing conflict between the Israeli and Hamas of Palestinian’s proves once again the continuous failure of the UNSC permanent members. The United States unequivocally and unapologetically throws its full support financially, militarily, and politically behind Israel. To the extent of vetoing any resolution proposal that will sway Israel from the unrelenting bombardment of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Regardless of the enormous death tolls inflicted on Palestinian’s civilians because of this war, the United States as one of the Israeli dependable allies continues to stand by Israel. “The United States has vetoed thirty-four times out of the thirty-six times in protecting Israel’s interests over Palestine” (Asrar and Hussein, Aljazeera, 26 Oct 2023). Since the United Nations Security Council began to initiate resolutions on different issues, the record has shown the consistency of the U.S. in support of Israel. Quantitative data analysis mentioned above, in which the United States has vetoed resolutions in favor of Israel over its Arab- State neighbors 36 times out of the 46 times has proven why the UNSC is ineffective. Out of those 46 times, only 36 times the United States participated in resolutions between the Israeli and Palestinian. The United States vetoed 34 out of the 36 resolutions in favor of Israel. For this reason, many lives have been taken and property has been lost due to the protracted conflict. Both Israelis and Palestinians are always and continue to be suspicious of one another when it comes to the issue of sabotaging or who attacks first. This is another manifestation of the United Nations Security Council’s permanent members’ failure in resolving the lingering conflicts between the Israeli and Palestinian.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, since Post World War II, the world has experienced three phases of global conflict. The Cold War, post-Cold War, and the present global power system. During the Cold War dominated by the two superpowers, the United Nations Security Council permanent members were ineffective in maintaining international peace and security. In the face of numerous atrocities that have been committed in Ukraine by Russia and between Israel/Hamas as well, the Security Council permanent members continue to be ineffective. As the United States emerges as the unilateral superpower Post-Cold War, the Security Council permanent members were able to maintain the global order under the leadership of the U.S. In the present global power system, the Security Council permanent members are just as ineffective as they were during the Cold War. “Waltz argued that bipolarity is less war prone than multipolarity because it reduces uncertainty. By the same logic, unipolarity is the least war prone of all structures” (Wolfforth, pp.24). Historically, the global order suffers when multiple nation-states that have influence dictate international affairs. The two most dominant are the United States and China. The United States still stands ahead as a dominant force among other superpowers. However, the current global order leans toward both the unipolar and bipolar systems.
Works Cited
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