Reform of United Nations
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In relevance to the Daley and Lionel article, this essay will argue that the United Nations Security Council needs to be scrutinized in order to play a more effective and representative role of 21st Century geopolitical. Firstly, this essay will discuss the problems associated with the power to veto. Secondly, this essay will discuss the need to increase the size of the Security Council to represent a geographical balance between in the member states. Finally, it will explain the need to construct the Security Council more transparent and effective. The UN should not be dismantled or diminished, but improved through the expansion of its powers.
Firstly, the most cited problem of the Security Council is the veto power. The Security Council veto is a power enjoyed by the five permanent members (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States), which enables the states to void any Council substantive resolution regardless of the level of general support. as the five members are able to prevent many issues from reaching the Councils agenda, the veto power is a problem as it constructs makes the council undemocratic and ineffective (Global Policy Forum 2005). By exercising the veto power, any permanent members can prevent the passage of a resolution not, and the simple threat of a veto may lead to changes in the text of a resolution. In addition, an actual or threatened veto often prevents the council from acting swiftly to address great international issues (Kennedy, Russett 1995:58). In order to make the Council a more effective and efficient mechanism, the power to veto must be restricted and eventually eliminated. Though, the Global Policy Forum argues that it cannot be done in the near future, given that abolishing the veto would be very unlikely to win the approval by the permanent five (Global Policy Forum 2005).
However, states must mobilize pressure and persuade the permanent members to limit the use of the veto power, especially when the threatened or hidden veto casts a constant shadow over the Councils proceedings, restricting its effectiveness. As a result, if member states want to see changes and have the UN playing a bigger role in the international realm, it is necessary to make some adjustments to the greatest states power.
Secondly, if the United Nations desires to have a more effective and responsible position, it needs to enhance its geographically representation in the Council. The Council still reflects the global power structure of 1945, when most of todays nations were still under colonial rule (Mikhailitchenkom 2004:4). The five WWII allies were given such privileges at the time, as it was assumed that the big five were to be responsible for maintaining the peace and defeating aggressors, and therefore should control the use of UN forces (Morris 2005:8). However, times have changed and the members that were seen powerful in 1945 do not have a wider influence in the international realm as it used to.
Member states such as Brazil, India, Japan and Germany want a permanent seat in the Council, as its state geopolitical weight is more significant than the medium rank powers that hold vetoes in Council (Morris 2005:8). These states argue that it wants to increase its region representation to assure that matters on their part of the world are taken into consideration (Daley, Lionel 2006:35). Furthermore, many members recognize