Institutional Paralysis and International Peace: The Role of the United Nations Security Council in Safeguarding Self-Determination

Abstract: This article explores the principle of self-determination as a fundamental element of national autonomy and geopolitical affairs through the lens of the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) capacity to defend it in the context of the increasingly expansionist and nationalist agendas of powerful member states. The 2014 annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation is the case study analyzed in this paper as a guide for examining the impediments faced by the UNSC in attempts to uphold the self-determination of United Nations (UN) member states due to its structural limitations—specifically the veto power of the five permanent members of the council (P5) inhibiting resolutions intended to protect self-determination from passing. Through the synthesis of academic debates and UN documents, this article considers potential proposals for UNSC reform, ranging from structural adjustments to veto regulation, with a primary focus on altering the distribution of power between P5 members and non-permanent members to enhance the defensibility of self-determination. This paper contends that unless such reforms are implemented, the UNSC will be ineffective in protecting the self-determination of its member states if a nation’s autonomy or territorial integrity is threatened by the military advances of another country, especially as many P5 nations are becoming increasingly aggressive.