Abstract
Most resolutions adopted by the Security Council are concerned with the peace operations of the UN. Council decisions generally contain intentions that have been expressed at the topmost executive level of the organization. Through UNSC resolutions, these intentions influence, guide, and impact on peacebuilding activities around the world. Consequently, in order to understand the origin of the intentions behind the resolutions adopted by the Council, it is necessary to explore what the Council does and how it actually works.
This chapter describes how the UNSC has an introspective focus, but far-reaching policy. The resolutions of the UNSC are binding. However, what occupies the delegates of the Security Council on a daily basis is very different from the everyday focus and concerns of a peacebuilder working in Liberia. Activities in the Security Council are quite distinct from those on the ground, in, for instance, Liberia. The Security Council is not a tool that can be used to solve conflicts, challenges, and problems on the ground: its main task is to reach compromises by incorporating various processes, ideals, and structural differences and providing a course for the way ahead. The informal rules of the game in the UNSC provide the Council with an inward focus while at the same time producing extensive and far-reaching policies. The distance between this level and the level where the conflicts, challenges, and problems have to be solved in practice is enormous, a huge gap. Through this chapter I trace zones where Liberian state practices are negotiated all the way back to the UNSC’s horseshoe table at UN headquarters in New York.
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Notes
- 1.
Germany, Italy, Japan, the Soviet Union, and Spain (Germany was accepted into the League at a later stage than the others due to World War I) were among the great powers that withdrew from the League of Nations. In the USA, the Senate blocked President Woodrow Wilson’s ambitions to join the League of Nations.
- 2.
Norway has been an elected member of the UNSC four times to date: 1949–1950, 1963–1964, 1979–1980, and 2001–2002.
- 3.
In 1946, 1947, 1950, 1969, 1974, and 1982 (http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/scrules.htm; accessed June 4, 2004).
- 4.
In accordance with Article 35 and Article 1 of the UN Charter. Article 35 states:
(1) Any Member of the United Nations may bring any dispute, or any situation of the nature referred to in Article 34, to the attention of the Security Council or of the General Assembly. (2) A state which is not a Member of the United Nations may bring to the attention of the Security Council or of the General Assembly any dispute to which it is a party if it accepts in advance, for the purposes of the dispute, the obligations of pacific settlement provided in the present Charter. (3) The proceedings of the General Assembly in respect of matters brought to its attention under this Article will be subject to the provisions of Articles 11 and 12.
Article 1: The Purposes of the United Nations are:
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1.
To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;
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2.
To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
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3.
To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and
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4.
To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.
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1.
- 5.
Article 11:
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1.
The General Assembly may consider the general principles of co-operation in the maintenance of international peace and security, including the principles governing disarmament and the regulation of armaments, and may make recommendations with regard to such principles to the Members or to the Security Council or to both.
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2.
The General Assembly may discuss any questions relating to the maintenance of international peace and security brought before it by any Member of the United Nations, or by the Security Council, or by a state which is not a Member of the United Nations in accordance with Article 35, paragraph 2, and, except as provided in Article 12, may make recommendations with regard to any such questions to the state or states concerned or to the Security Council or to both. Any such question on which action is necessary shall be referred to the Security Council by the General Assembly either before or after discussion.
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3.
The General Assembly may call the attention of the Security Council to situations which are likely to endanger international peace and security.
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4.
The powers of the General Assembly set forth in this Article shall not limit the general scope of Article 10.
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1.
- 6.
Article 99: The Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.
- 7.
The term derives from the practice of Ambassador Diego Arria of Venezuela and refers to informal meetings that the UNSC can arrange, mainly to meet with other delegations or NGOs or special representatives.
- 8.
- 9.
It is often said in the General Assembly that all important decisions are taken “in the Seventh Committee.” There are only six committees: the “seventh” is the lounge bar in the UN building.
- 10.
Natalie Reid. http://globalpolicy.igc.org/security/informal/natalie.htm; accessed June 5, 2004.
- 11.
As an extension, it would be pertinent to explore whether there is an informal “Permanent one” (P1) among the P5, as indicated by David Malone, editor of The UN Security Council: From the Cold War to the 21st Century (2004, p. 8).
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Schia, N.N. (2018). Producing State Effects: Everyday Practices and Diplomacy in the UN Security Council. In: Franchised States and the Bureaucracy of Peace. Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65569-7_5
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