Monday, November 11, 2013
Legitimacy of the Security Council
Legitimacy of the Security Council
International organizations and social institutions
are powerful essentially due to the legitimacy of those institutions. As argued in “Legitimacy,
Power, and the Symbolic Life of the UN Security Council” by Ian Hurd, the
legitimacy of these organizations, like the United Nations, stems from the
strong belief in its symbols by powerful countries. The United Nations runs on
symbols and the symbolic power of the Security Council leads states to compete
for rewards with respect to the agenda, membership, and peacekeeping.
The struggles over the symbolic power of the
Security Council are brought about by the issues and agenda, which carry
significant symbolic weight. States often work hard to keep a favored issue on
the agenda to receive the rewards of symbolism and recognition. These rewards
of having issues on the agenda add to the power of the state.
Since
the council is an extremely influential body and the number of seats is
relatively limited, just becoming a member of the Security Council adds a great
deal of power to certain countries as well. All of this added power comes from
the Security Council having a significant extent of legitimacy, because with
organizations and institutions, legitimacy is essentially power. The Security Council is solely responsible
for preserving world peace, however, the council may not have been as
successful without its legitimacy. Countries
will often make efforts to earn the approval of the council for operations to
earn legitimacy and ultimately become more successful in what they are trying
to accomplish. Without legitimacy, The Security Council would have to rely on
persuading others by using force or threats, which would be a failure and
wouldn’t exist. The United Nations, and
more specifically the Security Council, would not be as successful and powerful
without legitimacy as well as the symbols, which add an overwhelming consensus
of trust on the organizations.
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I feel like what the Security Council has over other countries is not so much a status of legitimacy as it is power. Is there a reason you would call it legitimacy?
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree because I made the argument that power stems from legitimacy, so in that case I guess it has both.
DeleteDo you believe nations all cooperate in this system? I believe in a more realist view where these states are more concerned with their own affairs and the desire to gain more power, rather than share it on a security council. Additionally, do you believe that there is a legitimacy of a security council due to the powerful states that are in charge?
ReplyDeleteI agree that a state's membership in the security council provides legitimacy. You make the claim that members of the council gain power by adding issues to the agenda, however, couldn't just being a member of such a powerful and credible institution grant a nation with an increase in power regardless of their amount of influence?
ReplyDelete@Mark Russel;
ReplyDeleteI partly agree and disagree with you statement about nations and the security council. I think that the nations do cooperate in the system because the Security Council in the United Nations is there for the exact reason of maintaining peace in the world. Although I do agree with the fact that they are quite concerned with their own affairs and to gain more power; but their job in this council is to cooperate. Also i believe that there is a legitimacy in the Security Council due to the powerful states being in charge as they have more authority and power; and this is where i agree with what Sam originally said, that legitimacy stems from power and vice versa.