The Intrinsic Crisis of the Security Council

A political crisis has always existed within the Security Council. The interplay of power and interests between the great powers—the permanent members of this organism—and their close allies impose important limitations upon the Council's capacity to maintain its "primordial responsibility in the maintenance of international peace and security". The high level of cooperation between members of the council by the end of the Cold War has diminished, faced by the tendency of the powers to act outside the Council or even the United Nations itself. The reasons which made it possible, in the immediate post-Cold War period, for the Council to overcome the difficulties which had for more than 45 years impeded it from functioning adequately, are now weakening due to the great powers’ tendency to avoid attending to the multilateral instance created for the maintenance of international peace and security, as they fee! that it diminishes their capacity of decision on matters of security.