ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the impact the Kuwait conflict has had, and may have in the United Nations. In comparison to its conduct in other conflicts, from the onset of the Kuwait crisis the Security Council acted more speedily, decisively, and comprehensively. Criticism of the Security Council is more muted, but demands for a change in its composition have increased. The split among the nonaligned members of the Security Council helped to secure for the United States the nine votes necessary for the passage of a decision. Among the permanent members of the Security Council, cooperation reached an unprecedented peak during the crisis and remains high in its aftermath. The roots of this close relationship can be traced to 1986-1987, when the P-5 began to work together during the conflict between Iran and Iraq. The zenith reached by the Security Council in 1993 with its authorization to use force for humanitarian purposes in Somalia may indeed also become its nadir.
