UN Security Council: Practice and Promise

208 Pages·2006·1.206 MB·English

by  Edward C. Luck

UN Security Council
Drawing largely from primary sources, it opens with a look at the conditions,
expectations, and politics that shaped its creation in the early 1940s. The
soaring public rhetoric of the day is contrasted to the hard-headed realism
that conditioned the drafting in Dumbarton Oaks and San Francisco of the
Charter’s provisions concerning the composition and practices of the Council.
It notes that the pointed debates over these matters at the founding confer-
ence are echoed in the current struggle over Council reform and expansion.
The heart of the book traces how the four key tools at the Council’s
disposal– peace operations, military enforcement, sanctions, and empowering
partners – have evolved through practice and experience. It finds that the
Council has proven to be remarkably adaptable to changing circumstances, no
doubt a key to its longevity. The final section addresses how the Council is
seeking to confront three current challenges – humanitarian atrocities,
terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, and demands for reform – that
will largely define its future.
Remarkably little has been written about the Council, though it has
become one of the most dynamic, ambitious and controversial institutions in
contemporary world politics. Filling this gap, UN Security Council is essential
reading for those with interests in international peace and security and inter-
national politics and relations.
Edward C. LuckisDirector of the Center on International Organization and
Professor of Practice in International and Public Affairs at Columbia
University. A past president and CEO of the United Nations Association of
the USA and one of the architects of the UN reform efforts from 1995 to
1997, he has published widely on UN affairs, US foreign policy, and a range
of security and political issues. Among his publications are Mixed Messages:
American Politics and International Organization, 1919–1999 (1999); Reforming
the United Nations: Lessons from a History in Progress (2003); and, with Michael
Doyle, International Law and Organization: Closing the Compliance Gap(2004).
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UN Security Council
Practice and promise
Edward C. Luck
First published 2006
by Routledge
2Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
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©2006 Edward C. Luck
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or repro-
duced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
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Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Acatalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN10: 0–415–35530–3 ISBN13: 978–0–415–35530–8 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–35531–1 ISBN13: 978–0–415–35531–5 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–96933–2 ISBN13: 978–0–203–96933–5 (ebk)
In Memory of Professor David J. Luck

Contents
List of illustrations xi
Foreword xii
Preface xv
List of abbreviations xviii
PART I
Context 1
1 Grading the great experiment 3
2 The founding vision 9
3 Defining the Council through charter and practice 16
PART II
Tools 29
4 Peace operations 31
5 Military enforcement 48
6 Economic sanctions, arms embargoes, and diplomatic
instruments 58
7 Enlisting and empowering partners 68