Reform of the United Nations Security Council: Position of Russia and Foreign Countries

Abstract

The article provides comprehensive analysis of the current dynamics and prospects for the evolution of discussions on the reform of the UN Security Council, which are conducted within the framework of relevant Intergovernmental Negotiations at the headquarters of the United Nations. Particular attention is given to the prerequisites for launching the reform process, the approaches of key negotiating groups and permanent members of the Security Council, primarily Russia. The article aims to prove that the fundamental disagreements persisting among the proponents of various models of reforming the Security Council rule out prospects for significant progress in the negotiations in the foreseeable future. The probability of a rapid evolution of geopolitical landscape is assessed as low. Against this background, the author concludes that it would generally be reasonable for Russia to continue with the current negotiating tactics, which is based on the thesis that the reform of the Council should enjoy the widest possible support of the Member States, and the prerogatives of the current permanent members, including the veto right, are not subject to revision. At the same time, it is worth making adjustments to such tacticts given the determined attempts by some negotiating groups to achieve the expansion of the Security Council in both categories of membership and the growing dissatisfaction with the lack of progress in reform. In particular, the author points to the need to further strengthen cooperation between the Russian side and the like-minded delegations in order to, among other things, promote more actively the socalled "intermediate" reform model. In preparing the article, the author mainly used systematic and logical-intuitive approaches while relying on the methods of empirical, historical-descriptive, political-descriptive and institutional analysis.