UN Security Council: challenges, reform and other ways forward

Date: 22nd July, 14:00 UTC
Zoom Meeting ID: 873 3867 4081
Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMudOGuqT8qEtUIwyKuDYupNgAlqpA2Tlw9
Speaker: Dr. James Summers (Lancaster University)

Description:

The war in Ukraine has once again exposed the failure of the UN collective security system centred on the Security Council. The Council was created in the aftermath of World War II as the centrepiece of the UN’s primary purpose in maintaining international peace and security and has a unique power to legally authorise force. The five main victorious powers in the war took permanent seats on the Council (the P5) with a power of veto. Aside from an expansion in non-permanent members, this composition has remained unchanged for almost 80 years. This talk will explore the problems with the Council, attempts at reform and potential alternatives.

Dr James Summers is a senior lecturer in international law and Director of the Centre for International Law and Human Rights at Lancaster University Law School. He is the author or editor of several books, including Peoples and International Law. He is currently working on an international law text, cases and materials book for Cambridge University Press.