Overview
Your assignment is to compose a paper of around 2,000 words (excluding title page and bibliography) that responds to the prompt given below.
Compose your essay in response to the following prompt:
United Nations Security Council Reform
- Since the early 1990s, there has been an extended debate within the United Nations and beyond about whether and how to reform the membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). While many observers agree that the Council is in need of reform in order to enhance its legitimacy and effectiveness in promoting international security, there is little agreement among UN member states about how the Council should be reformed. Various proposals have been advanced in the UN General Assembly, but they differ on questions such as whether and how many new permanent members should be added, whether those permanent members should enjoy a veto, and most contentiously who should be given these permanent seats. While this debate continues, developments such as the failure to prevent the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the controversial Council-backed intervention in Libya in 2011, and the failure to take action to address humanitarian emergencies in Syria, Myanmar and other areas, has called the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Council into question, raising the stakes for the continued failure to agree on a plan for Council reform. How should the UN Security Council be reformed? What proposal or model of reform do you think will best improve the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Council and why?
Your paper should be organized as follows. In the first section after the introduction (1 page), discuss the purpose of the UNSC and how it is structured, including how its members are chosen (2 pages). In the second section, discuss the arguments which focus on the need for UNSC reform, detailing at least three proposals for reform that governments have proposed in the UN General Assembly (3 pages). Third and finally, make an argument for how you think the UNSC should be reformed and why (3 pages). Be sure you address the counter-arguments to the position you take in this debate, and be sure to offer reasons and warrants for the position you take on this question.