OUVRAGE : C. Cai, L. van der HERIK, T. Maluwa, The UN Security Council and the Maintenance of Peace in a Changing World

Congyan CAI, Larissa van den HERIK, Tiyanjana MALUWA

How can the UN Security Council contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security in times of heightened tensions, global polarisation, and contestation about the principles underlying the international legal and political order? In this Trialogue, experts with diverse geographic, socio-legal, and ideational backgrounds present their perspectives on the Security Council's historic development, its present functions and deficits, and its defining tensions and future trajectories. Three approaches engage with each other: a power-focused approach emphasising the role of China as an emerging actor; an institutionalist perspective exploring how less powerful states, particularly the elected members of the Security Council, exert influence and may strengthen rule-of-law standards; a regionalist perspective investigating how the Security Council as the central actor can cooperate with regional organisations towards maintaining international peace and security. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Christian Marxsen, Introduction: The UN Security Council’s Four Defining Fields of Tension 

I. The UN Security Council’s Functions in the Peace and Security Architecture
II. The Changing Political Environment
III. Past Responses

A. Formal Reform
B. Empowering Other UN Organs
C. Informal Mechanisms
D. Authority of External Actors

IV. Trajectories of and Tensions in the Security Council’s Operation
V. Three Voices in a Trialogue 

 
1. Congyan Cai, The UN Security Council: Maintaining Peace during a Global Power Shift 

I. Introduction
II. The UN Security Council: Between Politics and Law

A. The Relationship between Politics and Law at the International Level
B. The Politics of Legal Privileges and the Great Powers
C. Legal Restraints on the Great Powers
D. A Politicised Institution and Legalised Actions

III. How Power Politics Influence the Workings of the Security Council

A. The Cold War
B. The ‘New World Order’
C. A ‘New Cold War’?
D. The Security Council for International Peace – or for Peace between Only the Great Powers?

IV. Novel Threats and the Response of the Security Council

A. International Public Health Crisis
B. Extremism
C. Cyber-Attacks

V. China’s Ascension and the UN Security Council

A. A General Observation
B. How the New Power Constellation Influences China’s Behaviour in the Security Council
C. How Chinese International Legal Policies Influence China’s Security Council Behaviour
D. China’s Normative Role in the Security Council

VI. The Future Trajectory of Security Council Reforms: Revisiting the Universal and Regional Approaches

A. The Universal Approach
B. The Regional Approach

VII. Conclusions
2. Larissa van den Herik, The UN Security Council: A Reflection on Institutional Strength

I. Introduction
II. An Institutionalist Perspective: Limits to the Security Council
III. Bolstering the Security Council’s Institutional Environment
IV. Disputed Uses of Force and the Importance of Inclusive Processes

A. Resolution 1973 and Wavering International Consensus
B. Proposals to Refine Decision-Making and Discourse on the Use of Force

V. Sanctions Outside and Inside the UN Institutional Framework

A. Non-UN Sanctions as a Challenge to the Security Council’s Prerogative?
B. UN Sanctions and the Development of Procedures and Remedies

VI. Security Council Action on Terrorism and Extremism: Stretching Prerogatives beyond Breaking Point?
VII. Future Trajectories and Unconventional Global Threats
VIII. Concluding Reflections 

3. Tiyanjana Maluwa, The UN Security Council: Between Centralism and Regionalism 

I. Introduction
II. The United Nations and Regional Organisations: Partnering for the Maintenance of Peace

A. Historical Debates of Centralism versus Regionalism
B. Partnership Peacekeeping as a Return of Regionalism
C. Relevance of the International Rule of Law in the Security Council’s Operations and Decision-Making Processes

III. The Security Council’s Practice in Selected Partnership Peace Operations with the African Union

A. Article 4(h) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the Primacy of the Security Council
B. The Security Council, the African Union, and the Libyan Conflict of 2011
C. China’s Position in the Security Council Regarding UN Peacekeeping in Africa
D. Russia’s Rising Presence in Africa
E. AU–UN Collaboration in Fighting International Terrorism through Peace Operations

IV. Continuing Challenges, Future Trajectories, and the Need for Reform

A. The African Quest for Permanent Seats on the Security Council
B. The Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Ramifications for African Perceptions of the Security Council
C. The Problem of Security Council Inaction and Failure to Decide
D. Unconventional Global Threats: The Climate Crisis and Climate Security

V. Conclusion

Conclusion: Anne Peters, Power, Procedures, and Periphery – The UN Security Council in the Ukraine War 

I. Introduction
II. Law and Power
III. Procedure and Substance

A. The Power and Powerlessness of Procedures
B. Checks and Balances, and Accountability
C. Procedural Arguments against Manifestly Obstructive Vetoes

IV. Centre and Periphery
V. Conclusions: The Embedded Security Council 

Index

Congyan CAI, Larissa van den HERIK, Tiyanjana MALUWA,

The UN Security Council and the Maintenance of Peace in a Changing World, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2024 (322 pp.)