If the Security Council is unable to obtain unanimity or a majority vote on a resolution, they may opt for a non-binding presidential statement rather than a resolution. These are unanimously approved. They are intended to exert political pressureâa signal to the Council that it is paying attention and that additional action may be forthcoming. Both resolutions and presidential remarks are often accompanied by press announcements that include the language of the document approved by the body as well as some explanatory information. Additionally, they may be issued individually after an important meeting.
The Security Council's composition has been a source of contention, especially since the Cold War's conclusion. According to critics, the Security Council and its five permanent members represent the power structure that prevailed after Globe War II, when a large portion of the world was colonial. Reform efforts have remained elusive, but have focused on efforts to increase the transparency of the Security Council's work and on demands by significant non-permanent members, such as Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan (the so-called G-4), for permanent membershipâor at the very least special status within the Security Council. The G-4 nations proposed increasing the Security Council's membership to 25 seats by adding six additional permanent members, including one each for themselves and two for Africa. United Nations Security Council Meeting in 2014 Official White House Photograph of Pete Souza
Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2003. ISBN 0300101554 Benedict Kingsbury and Adam Roberts (eds.). The United Nations in a Divided World: The UN's International Relations Roles Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN 0198279264. Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye. World Politics in Transition: Power and Interdependence ISBN 0316489360. Published by Little, Brown and Company in 1977.
Tuesday saw the United Nations' key organization for fostering global peace hold its highest-profile debate of climate change. However, Russia, which has a veto in the Council as a permanent member, cautioned against any effort to declare global warming as a danger to global security. Moscow's attitude left the United Kingdom's president of the Security Council clawing at a broken panic button.
