Bringing together an international cast of diplomats, lawyers and academics, Empowering the UN Security Council offers a roadmap to reform the UNSC to be more legitimate and effective in addressing modern threats.

This is the first major exploration of the United Nations Security Council's part in addressing the problem of war, both civil and international, since 1945. Both during and after the Cold War the Council has acted in a limited and selective manner, and its work has sometimes resulted in failure. It has not been - and was never equipped to be - the centre of a comprehensive system of collective security. However, it remains the body charged with primary responsibility for international peace and security. It offers unique opportunities for international consultation and military collaboration, and for developing legal and normative frameworks. It has played a part in the reduction in the incidence of international war in the period since 1945. This study examines the extent to which the work of the UN Security Council, as it has evolved, has or has not replaced older systems of power politics and practices regarding the use of force. Its starting point is the failure to implement the UN Charter scheme of having combat forces under direct UN command. Instead, the Council has advanced the use of international peacekeeping forces; it has authorized coalitions of states to take military action; and it has developed some unanticipated roles such as the establishment of post-conflict transitional administrations, international criminal tribunals, and anti-terrorism committees. The book, bringing together distinguished scholars and practitioners, draws on the methods of the lawyer, the historian, the student of international relations, and the practitioner. It begins with an introductory overview of the Council's evolving roles and responsibilities. It then discusses specific thematic issues, and through a wide range of case studies examines the scope and limitations of the Council's involvement in war. It offers frank accounts of how belligerents viewed the UN, and how the Council acted and sometimes failed to act. The appendices provide comprehensive information - much of it not previously brought together in this form - of the extraordinary range of the Council's activities. This book is a project of the Oxford Leverhulme Programme on the Changing Character of War.

Written by best-selling author Edward C. Luck, this new text is broad and engaging enough for undergraduates, sophisticated enough for graduates and lively enough for a wider audience interested in the key institutions of international public policy. Looking at the antecedents of the UN Security Council, as well as the current issues and future challenges that it faces, this new book includes: historical perspectives the founding vision procedures and practices economic enforcement peace operations and military enforcement human security proliferation and WMD terrorism reform, adaptation and change.

The nature and scope of UN Security Council decisions - significantly changed in the post-Cold War era - have enormous implications for the conduct of foreign policy. The UN Security Council offers a comprehensive view of the council both internally and as a key player in world politics. Focusing on the evolution of the council's treatment of key issues, the authors discuss new concerns that must be accommodated in the decisionmaking process, the challenges of enforcement, and shifting personal and institutional factors. Case studies complement the rich thematic chapters. The book sheds much-needed light on the central events and trends of the past decade and their critical importance for the future role of the council and the UN in the sphere of international security.

Observes how the growth of the political authority of the Council challenges the basic idea that states have legal autonomy over their domestic affairs. The individual essays survey the implications that flow from these developments in the crucial policy areas of: terrorism; economic sanctions; the prosecution of war crimes; human rights; humanitarian intervention; and the use of force. In each of these areas, the evidence shows a complex and fluid relation between state sovereignty, the power of the United Nations, and the politics of international legitimation. Demonstrating how world politics has come to accommodate the contradictory institutions of international authority and international anarchy, this book makes an important contribution to how we understand and study international organizations and international law. Written by leading experts in the field, this volume will be of strong interest to students and scholars of international relations, international organizations, international law and global governance.

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the powers of the Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

This volume discusses the legal limits to the authority of the Security Council under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. The interest in this topic regained importance when the Security Council started to play an increasingly active role after a period of dormancy between 1945 and 1990. The work describes various approaches to Charter interpretation, provides an overview of the Council's powers under the Charter and surveys the Council's recent practice with regard to the maintenance of international peace and security. Subsequently the sources and contents of the limits to the Council's authority are analyzed. This is followed by an analysis of the role of the International Court of Justice, which includes an overview of the main obstacles to, and possibilities of, judicial review by the Court of Council decisions taken under Chapter VII. Finally, the work discusses recent proposals to enhance the Council's legitimacy.