Un Security Council

The Security Council is a key component of the United Nations international organization.

To properly overview the UN Security Council, you will want to use academic and United Nations sources to do the following:

• Examine the role of the Security Council in world affairs.
• Briefly discuss the structure, its responsibility to maintain peace and security in the world, and its coercive and conciliatory powers.
• Demonstrate that the Security Council is an international arbitrator for nations with conflicting interests.

Research reveals the UN Security Council's functions are to investigate, negotiate and settle disputes between nations and to maintain the peace and security of the international community. However, this role is often politicized due to the diverse nature of the Council's member nations, or diminished due to the superior economic and military power of the United States. Despite these problems, the Security Council's role as the maintainer of international peace is important and relevant to the entire world community.

The Security Council was developed as a result of the original 1945 Charter of the United Nations. The Charter also made a clear distinction between the Security Council and the General Assembly. While the General Assembly is composed of members from every recognized nation, the Security Council has eleven original members, including five that were permanent - China, France, the soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A 1965 amendment increased the Council's number to fifteen, with non-permanent members selected from three African, two Asian, one Eastern European, two Latin American, and two from Western European or other nations.