ABSTRACT
The analysis of the relations among the states within the SC is consistent with the one made in the GA. First, as in Chapter 4, we aim to define the relationships among the SC members, in relation to the Arab–Israeli question. Moreover, the voting behavior of the states is considered, once again, as an indicator of their relations. However, the SC represents a completely different institutional setting, and for this reason it is necessary to use additional methods of analysis and to take into account the distinction between permanent and non-permanent members. If the principle of “one state one vote” facilitates the analysis of the state’s voting behavior within the GA, the SC presents a more complicated situation resulting from the different “weight” of its members, from the membership turnover, and the veto power. Those different characteristics imply new methods of inquiry and a comparative analysis with the results found for the GA. For this reason, this chapter has two objectives: the verification of the hypotheses made in the introductory chapter about the decision-making process within the SC, and the comparison of the states’ relations within the SC vis-à-vis those of the GA. The first aspect is necessary to understand how the SC works, while the second, even if rarely considered in the literature, is the only way to define UN activity exhaustively, since it shows the relationship between the two most important decision-making bodies of the Organization and describes to what extent they affect each other.
