ABSTRACT
The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful international institution in the history of the nation-state system. As a body comprising the world’s most dominant and influential states-as well as representatives from each of the world’s regions-it has the means to establish and implement a wide range of policies regarding international peace and security broadly defined. When its members pool their military and economic resources, it represents the strongest combination of states in modern times. Yet it is not the mobilization of military or economic power alone that makes the Security Council such a formidable body. Despite their overwhelming resources, the five permanent members of the Security Council (P5) often cannot enforce their resolutions without cooperation from the less powerful states. Thus, for example, economic sanctions, arms embargoes, peacekeeping operations, nation-building, the prosecution of war criminals, and the resolution of civil wars require widespread support from even small states that may otherwise not be considered major players in international affairs. As recent events suggest, even a powerful “coalition of the willing” cannot impose stability in a chaotic region without the active participation of less-powerful countries such as Pakistan, Turkey, and India. These events also indicate that such cooperation can no longer be obtained entirely through coercion or diplomatic inducements; it often requires a widespread acceptance by governments and their populations of the Security Council’s legitimate authority to act.
