THE ROLE OF THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Remarks by Alyson JK Bailes, Dept of Political Science, University

of Iceland The UN Security Council seems to be one of the most admired and envied institutional bodies in the world except perhaps by those who actually have to work on it. Even the nations like ndia! "apan and #ra$il who are critici$in% the Council for lack of representativity are doin% so because they want to %et on to it& they think the idea as such of havin% a limited %roup of nations with such special powers is %reat. 'utside the UN! have often heard debates in other institutions about why they can(t have somethin% like the Security Council to ensure stron%er leadership and faster action. This idea is often raised in the EU context in the shape of an inner core of bi% states or ori%inal foundin% states. t has also been repeatedly proposed in the 'SCE! mainly by )ussia. So perhaps if we want to look at the basic role of the UNSC we should ask not *ust what it was created for but w y it co!ld be created in that form! which really has little parallel anywhere else in the world structure. The answer to its ori%inal purpose is set out very clearly in the ori%inal UN Charter. +uote& , n order to ensure prompt and effective action by the United Nations! its -embers confer on the Security Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security! and a%ree that in carryin% out its duties under this responsibility the Security Council acts on their behalf.( The emphasis here is indeed on +uick and stron% action! and the +uestion of what the action should be for lies in the very first words of the Charter which talk about savin% future %enerations from all the horrors of war. .nd as to why the particular %roup of nations on the UNSC should be suitable for stoppin% war& well! they consisted of the three /estern .llies who won the second world war plus )ussia and China! and these could be considered the most obvious set of countries who mi%ht %o to war wit eac ot er at world level in the cold0war situation after 1234. Secondly they were the world(s only nuclear powers at that time and it is no accident that another article in the charter asks the UNSC to take special responsibility for the restraint of armaments and for reducin% them as soon as possible to the necessary minimum. The +uestion! of course! is how far this ori%inal mission! shape! and powers of the UNSC correspond to the different security challen%es and to the tasks of not *ust savin% but improvin% the world in the twenty0first century. /e have much less risk today! thank %oodness! of nuclear war or any other war between the world(s %reat powers but we do have many more very cruel local conflicts and several more possessors of nuclear arms. 5erhaps most crucially! our idea of security and welfare today %oes far beyond simple notions of war and peace to include the need for economic development! individual human ri%hts and the rule of law! proper mana%ement of the environment! and defence a%ainst non0state and non0 traditional threats like those from terrorists and from international crime and smu%%lin%! to name *ust a few. 6ow does the UNSC match up to this new set of tasks7 'ne obvious point 0 but one that don(t often hear discussed 0 is that the Security Council can only work within the limited competence of the UN itself! and that competence has never extended to runnin% the world(s financial! economic and tradin% activities which are so important for the broader dimensions of human security and welfare today. That is the *ob of the %lobal financial institutions 8 -9! /orld #ank and /T':! and if there is an e+uivalent to

a core %roup of stron% nations for that purpose it is actually the ;<! t is true that the UN(s speciali$ed a%encies deal with many aspects of economic and social existence and with important security challen%es like disease! hun%er and refu%eeism! but in practice they are not very effectively coordinated by the UN centre in New =ork and even less by the Security Council as such. t is really only fair therefore to look at the UNSC(s role in terms of the evolution of the more traditional! conflict related and armaments related security a%enda. 6ere a%ain we ou%ht to note that a lot of relevant work now %oes on in other places! not ably in re%ional or%ani$ations like N.T'! the EU! .SE.N or the .frican Union which not only look after their own members( security but try to supply it to others especially in the form of peacekeepin% capacities. n the last fifteen years! while the number of UN missions to crisis areas has risen! the number of missions carried out by these other actors has %rown much faster. t is also worth notin% that the UN itself recently set up a 5eacebuildin% Commission to take on and some would say! to take away from the Security Council 0 the more detailed tasks of rebuildin% after conflict which are now seen as so crucial for a lastin% peace. 6owever! most people would still see the UNSC and the UN itself as havin% the most crucial and central role in decidin% where new interventions should take place> in %ivin% them a clear international le%al base! and ensurin% their le%itimacy as somethin% more than the selfseekin% adventures of some self0appointed ,international policeman(. E+ually important! the UNSC has uni+ue powers to try to avoid or limit open conflicts and to cut off non0conflict developments that are particularly dan%erous for peace! by positive steps like mediation and peace talks or by the threat and imposition of various sanctions. This ran%e of options are still hi%hly relevant for today(s conditions as seen by all the UN(s recent activity on ran! North ?orea! @arfur and ?osovo amon% others. Since ABBB we have also seen some intri%uin% si%ns of the UNSC learnin% to work in new ways to tackle those new security challen%es that don(t *ust arise at state level but involve the actions of individuals! companies! or social and reli%ious %roups in a fluid %lobali$ed environment. n its resolutions numbers 1CDC and 143B the UNSC has created somethin% very like universally applicable laws a%ainst the financin% of terrorism and the unauthori$ed ownership and trade in /-@! respectively! which can %rip on dan%erous actions taken ri%ht down to the individual level that is! if states play ball in enforcin% them. n terms of broadenin% out to the new security a%enda! it is also notable that the U? succeeded in the UN(s last session in %ettin% the dan%ers of climate chan%e brou%ht on to the UNSC(s a%enda as a security issue. t seems that issues of ener%y security and related conflict mana%ement will also call for more attention at %lobal level! with developments like the recent race to stake national claims under the ice of the North 5ole> and it would be very surprisin% if any future world health epidemic did not involve the UN(s central or%ans as well as the /6'. f the UNSC could pursue such openin%s for adaptation and exploration! as well as doin% its more basic *ob of intervenin% in more traditional dan%ers to peace! it would certainly deserve its place as a continuin% central actor in A1st0centurity security. The obstacles to it doin% that in a convincin% way are also the reasons why it is very important for different types of nations! includin% smaller ones like celand! to %et onto the Security Council and have a chance to influence its work from time to time. 9irst! the dominance by lar%e nuclear states doesn(t *ust mean that they all too fre+uently block action throu%h their ri%ht of veto. t means that there is a kind of conspiracy amon% them not to raise at all those issues that they see as their private business! whether it be Northern reland or Chechnya or the way the US thinks itself free to violate international law or the breaches of

human ri%hts by China. They are also %enerally less interested in the non0military and more mundane issues of human security! includin% financial and economic stability and freedom of communications! that matter so much to a small but hi%hly %lobali$ed nation like celand. .nd last but not least! they have been pretty hopeless in their task of controllin% armaments of any kind! especially in the last ten years or so althou%h there are some hints in #ritish and even in US policy that this issue mi%ht be ripe for revival in ABB201B. )eturnin% to my first words about the UNSC bein% less admired by those who actually work on it! a youn% #ritish diplomat who later resi%ned from the service had this to say but the Security Council(s tan%led ne%otiations over ra+ in ABBA& , t %ot so bad that we would re*ect anythin% the 9rench and )ussians proposed simply because it was their proposal! and vice versaE./hat we all lacked in that nasty overheated little room was any sense of what was really %oin% on(. f any of that is true! it is not a reason to turn our backs on the UNSC because all of us! human bein%s as well as states! desperately need it to do better. .ny new hands and clean intentions that can be brou%ht to the *ob! for example by celand securin% temporary membership! offer a new reason for hope and in my personal view are very much to be welcomed