THE WRONG FIVE:

World-Class Club: a review of Five to Rule Them All: The UN Security Council and the Making of the Modern World by David L. Bosco (Rahul Chandran, Powell.com)

In the sweltering summer of 1944, two months after D-Day, British and Soviet diplomats joined the Americans in Washington to discuss how the three powers that were shaping the world could preserve the peace in the years to come. Their answer was a grand body of member states -- the United Nations -- with responsibility for peace and security falling to a "Security Council." This elite club would have five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, plus France and China -- with the power to veto any proposed resolution, and 10 other members elected on a rotating basis from the galaxy of states. In the 65 years since its creation, the Security Council has frustrated those who thought it would mean an end to violent conflict, disappointed many who assumed that nations would actually unite, and alienated the American Right, which considers it a constraint on U.S. power. Yet the fact remains that the Security Council is a critical venue for international dialogue.

At a minimum the US should require that the Council be remade to reflect geographic/demographic realities and to conform to the UN's founding ideals. No non-democracy should be allowed and one country from each continent should get a seat. America, Brazil, India, England, Australia, and (maybe) South Africa would be acceptable.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 31, 2010 6:01 AM