During a period of increased global tensions over the future direction of multilateralism, the UN Security Council faces significant questions over its continued legitimacy. Consequently, demands for formal reform initiatives have grown, challenging the unequal distribution of power within the Council and the continued influence of colonial legacies. Yet despite these claims, it is still commonly assumed that the UK must work to retain all the key privileges that come from holding a permanent seat to help maintain its status and prestige. In contrast, we outline how the UK's current position actually fuels resentment and undermines the post-Brexit ‘Global Britain’ agenda. In response, this article offers a non-ideal solution where the UK retains its permanent seat but aligns its use with national interests through bringing forward informal delegation practices and coalition building, as well as developing innovative working methods to generate greater cooperation between permanent and elected members. In doing so we argue that through a more delegated approach the UK could demonstrate its commitment to fairness and multilateralism in a way that wins allies and positions it as a leading advocate for reform even in a time of increased great power competition.
Policy implications
- Contrary to a general consensus, the UK's retention of permanent seat on the UN Security Council does not contribute to the UK's broad ‘Global Britain’ agenda in a meaningful way. Instead, as an explicit colonial legacy, it generates resentment and serves as a stark reminder of continued global inequalities. Accordingly, the UK should consider novel ways to redress this situation.
- The UK strategy of enhanced diplomatic activity on the Council has failed to bridge the legitimacy gap. The UK is unable to exercise the functions expected of a P5 member in two ways, first it lacks ‘material capacity’ and second it is unable to utilise the veto power as this would shine a spotlight on the lack of legitimacy attached to the UK permanent seat and generate a powerful revolt. The UK should utilise a window of opportunity to make substantive change on its own terms, which could turn a liability into an asset.
- Democratic delegation of the functions of the UK's permanent seat is proposed as a workable model for removing one of the Council's most explicit colonial features. By delegating its authority and decision-making processes to a globally representative body of states, the UK could in fact become a champion of decolonisation, and could seriously address the inherent lack of democracy embedded in the Council structure.
- In the absence of any possibility of formal Council reform (due, not least, to the veto), scholars find that informal practices are the best mechanism for positively re-shaping the Council. This proposal demonstrates how the UK can utilise informal practices to regenerate global legitimacy and ‘good will’.
Photo by Mehmood Yousafzai