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Veto Power

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27 views4 pages

Veto Power

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muhlisanurdinova665
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Essay: Is the veto power in the United Nations Security

Council a fair and sustainable mechanism for global peace


and security?

Department of International Relations, Ala-Too


International University

INT101: Introduction to International Relations

Student: Nurdinova Muhlisa

Dr. Gahryman Allamyradov

24th October, 2024


On our planet, in order to ensure security and maintain peace, the United
Nations Security Council was created. The devastating consequences of the Second
World War led to the creation of such a mechanism so that large-scale disasters would
not be repeated. The United Nations was founded in 1945, where the Security Council
became the central body for maintaining security. The Council has 15 members, but 5
of them are permanent - China, Russia, France, the United States, and the United
Kingdom. They have the exclusive right of veto. In modern words, we can say that it
gives its perks, this right allows any permanent member of the Council to block any
adoption of a resolution, regardless of the opinion of the other members of the
Council. But the veto was introduced to maintain a balance of power and prevent
conflicts between leading powers, and with this, misunderstandings of the fairness of
such a veto appear. This essay will consider the positive and negative arguments of the
veto, and assess its role, effectiveness in maintaining global security.

The veto power, as well as the structure of the Security Council itself, was
created in connection with the historical events after the Second World War. The veto
power became an important part of the UN Charter. It provided the ability to control
global problems, preventing decisions if it could threaten any power. That is, from
here we understand that the veto power is a powerful tool that was originally created
to avoid great conflicts between powers and to prevent the Third World War from
starting. In fact, the veto can be considered as a compromise so that the Soviet Union
and the Western powers could understand and unite their efforts into one in the new
international system.
Let's start with the positive arguments in terms of the veto power.
The veto power lets us know about stability and we understand that it
guarantees that decisions in the Security Council are made taking into account the
interests of the permanent members of the Council. Based on stable conditions, it is
convenient for countries to develop sustainable and long-term strategies, because
taking into account the interests of countries helps to ensure that abrupt changes in
international politics do not occur that can greatly affect countries. In conditions when
each country wants to promote its ideologies and interests, especially when they
cooperate with other countries, the veto helps prevent the emergence of unilateral
decisions that could cause instability in the world. In short, the veto thus maintains
peace, and the ability to block such ideas helps to avoid great wars.
We know how strong the permanent members of the Council are, they have
nuclear weapons (which are improving every year and becoming more in stock). The
veto right serves as a means to stop such actions between powers, we simply cannot
even imagine what the result of a big new war could be.

Let's move on to the negative arguments.


One of the main disadvantages of the veto right is that its frequent use to
protect national interests, rights repels its use for international security. We can take an
example from our everyday life, where one person gets the right to some power and
begins to use it more often in his own interests than in the interests of the people. And
if we give an example from international actions, then despite serious accusations of
human rights violations, Russia used the veto to block resolutions aimed at its own
actions against Ukraine.
The second is ignoring the opinion of the international community. Receiving
the right to veto allows permanent countries to use it in their interests, and this can
lead to an imbalance. In this case, the opinion of the international community is
simply ignored and suppressed. For example, the United States blocked resolutions on
the conflict between Israel and Palestine several times, despite the fact that this is a
serious conflict and despite the fact that it was supported by the majority of UN
members. Such unfair use of the veto tool leads to mistrust and doubts arise about its
fairness.
The UN was created to maintain the sovereign equality of all states, the veto
right violates the original principle and provides great privileges only to five
permanent members. Constant blocking of decisions undermines trust in maintaining
peace. There are many other countries that are members of the UN, they strive to
develop every year, but due to emerging security threats, they do not have the same
rights as those five countries, and as a result, discontent arises.

Alternative solutions to reform the veto power have been proposed in the
world, which are aimed at the fairness of this right and its effectiveness. One of the
most frequently discussed options is to limit the veto power if it is related to massive
human rights violations, such as genocide. This approach is supported by several
countries, and it assumes that permanent members of the Security Council should not
block resolutions that are aimed at preventing serious crises.
The introduction of this restriction would help the UN to deal more effectively
with the protection of human rights in the world.
Another alternative proposal is the introduction of a "double veto" - this means
that in order to block resolutions, not only one vote is needed, but also agreement with
other members, that is, at least two votes are needed for this veto to take effect. This
would help reduce the use of the veto power by one of the Council members based on
their interests, and would help to work collectively in the union, which increases trust
in each other. And another proposal is to expand the members of the Security Council,
or rather add new people to the Council, this would help to take into account modern
geopolitical realities.
In conclusion, the veto power played an important role in international
relations, allowing to maintain peace between the great powers after the Second World
War. However, with the changes in our world, and in modern conditions, it is already
shown how unfairly the veto power is used. Using the veto for one's narrow national
interests, prevents solving global problems and does not guarantee stable security in
the world. I believe that the reform of the veto power could make the work and
meaning of the veto more effective. The above alternatives can be the first steps to
improve life in the world. Limiting the veto in case of mass genocide, "double veto",
expanding the membership of the Security Council - all this can help to strengthen the
role of the UN in the 21st century. We can criticize their actions and how they can
unfairly use the veto power as much as we want, without action, all this does not
matter. Therefore, the UN must adapt to new challenges and seek more fair measures
to take into account the interests of all countries in the global world.

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