Restructuring of the UN

(from Ch. 11- Interregnum)

The new world order will not take its final form until it goes through difficult struggles (hopefully not full-scale wars), although ambiguity still surrounds this form, in order to reduce the side effects of the change, it will depend on the current international bodies, first and foremost is the United Nations, which is in the existing international system, reduced the possibility of physical conflicts between major powers and managed their conflicts.

The restructuring of the new world order will not be just in the hands of the United States and China. There are many countries want to have say on the set up of the new order. The other permanent members of the Security Council -Russia, UK, and France don’t want to lose their status as permanent members, where other countries such as, India, Japan, Australia, Türkiye, and Germany want to have more active role in the international order. These countries are currently on the margins of the international system and have tried over the past three decades to make changes in the international system by entering the Security Council as permanent members, but they were unable to do so.

Japan and Germany have taken advantage of the current international events and the threats they face in their surroundings, the Russian threat to Germany, and the Chinese and North Korean threat to Japan, to launch weaponizing programs that will boost their military strength within few years. This brings back the specter of global wars, especially since many countries are looking suspiciously at rise of Japan and Germany.

If the United States wants to maintain its status as the dominant power in the new world order, it must reshape the international system and not leave it up to the other competitors. Therefore, it must push for the regional powers to have a role in the international system to compete with nations who wants to compete with USA. This will serve USA in keeping the competition on the regional level. For example, China would be busy competing at the regional level in order to have an international role, so it must gain acceptance from countries in their region to be influential in international affairs, which would keep it busy in regional politics.

Everyone has known for a long time that there is a need for change in the structure of decision-making in the United Nations and the Security Council. The necessity for change in the new world order had risen due to Coronavirus and the Ukraine war. A change in the method of decision-making should be reformulated, especially since the US dominant is weakening and many members want to show they are independent. The characteristic of collectivism is what must govern the new world order, so the United Nations must be restructured as follows:

1. Security Council

The Security Council, which is the highest authority in the United Nations, needs a comprehensive restructuring. It is not acceptable for the council to be in its current form since the colonial period, the world it was established in, is changed. Security Council is still yet to change and is not coping with the changes in the world order. The new structure of the Council must have the flexibility to keep pace with the movement of power between nations- globally and regionally. There are no permanent members forever, but members are elected for long periods, and the rest are selected for short periods, similar to Senators and Representatives in the US Congress. So, the Security Council should be restructured as follows:

• The world is distributed into seven regions that may include the following: West and Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe (Germany to be part of the Eastern group), Western Europe, North Africa, South Africa (or East and West), the Americas.
• One member is elected from each region for a term of eight years (seven members total).
• Two members are elected from each region every two years, alternating between the rest of the members (a total of 14 members).
• There are 21 members of the Security Council in total.
• Countries with a long membership are entitled to veto decisions.
• The right to veto decisions applies if there is no state with veto power vote against that veto. In this case, veto countries vote with and against the decision, then the vote will be outweighed by whoever has a greater number of countries with veto power. In the event of a tie, the number of votes of the other countries is credited.
• Election of members to the Council go through two stages:

• Initial vote among the members of the geographical area to select candidate countries
• Vote in the United Nations General Assembly to approve or disapprove the regional selection.

• If states in region want to replace the long seating representative, can be possible if the following conditions are met:

• The seating representative nation was a member for at least two years
• 50% of the states in the region have to vote for the removal
• General Assembly has to approve the removal

Creating a democratic system for selecting members to the Security Council and eliminating the permanent membership is the ideal option as this will create a global system to serve humanity and the world, thus forcing the large countries in each region to work with neighboring countries to find a formula for coexistence and cooperative culture and reduce the intensity of disagreements. The existence of more than one large country (regional power)- the ideal number would be three contendant- in each region puts them in a race to win the support of voters (member states in the region). Thus, large countries will work to win the support of smaller countries in their surroundings and work in cooperation with other states in their region so can be elected again. This scheme will enhance cooperation between countries as it gives them the opportunity to compete with each other to serve other countries to obtain their support to get elected to the Security Council. It will increase the coordination between countries in one region instead of fighting.

This system is flexible to manage with changes in the balance of power between nations. It also limits the bullying and control of a handful of countries over the capabilities and decisions of the international community and works to serve humanity in the present and future.

1. General Assembly

The problem of the General Assembly is that it lacks power, all the powers have been placed in the Security Council, in order for the United Nations to be more effective, it must give some power to the General Assembly, such as:

• Any resolution that receives two-thirds of the votes in the General Assembly will not be rejected by the Security Council unless unanimous rejection from the members has a veto right.
• The General Assembly has the right to object to any Security Council decision that harms a specific group of people who may or may not have the ability to defend themselves in the UN.
• The General Assembly has the right to object to Security Council decisions if they have a negative impact on the environment.