Influence in the UN Security Council

Abstract

Abstract The formal rules governing the UN Security Council offer little insight into the process of negotiation. While it is common knowledge that permanent members dominate negotiations, this chapter demonstrates how permanent members dominate and what avenues of influence exist for other actors. It uses the concept of institutional power to show how the influence of permanent members extends beyond their formal privileges. Permanent members dominate agenda-setting, drafting, and have the capacity for informal veto. Support from elected members brings legitimacy to resolutions, however, and this mitigates the influence of permanent members. Elected members can also magnify their influence with strong diplomatic capacities or by acting collectively. The chapter goes beyond voting actors to analyse the influence of the UN Secretariat and the epistemic community around the United Nations on Security Council negotiations. The argument in this chapter also has implications for the perennial reform debates and the prospects for informal reform.