ABSTRACT
The Security Council is a special place. Over several centuries of institutional evolution, it is the closest approximation to global governance in the peace and security realm yet achieved. Its enforcement authority is unique in the history of inter-governmental cooperation. The UN’s 192 sovereign member states have agreed, under its Charter, to accept the decisions of the Council’s fifteen members as binding, despite ceaseless complaints about its undemocratic and unrepresentative character. Having survived more than six decades of hot and cold wars, its durability has proven unprecedented. As the centerpiece of the UN system, it is the depository of ageless dreams and recurring disappointments about the prospects for a more peaceful and cooperative global order.
