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The Security Council, the all-powerful UN body for maintaining world peace, remains mired in its World War II origins. The victors, the US, Russia, China, Britain, and France, continue to control it with their permanent membership and the veto. Their confrontations emasculated the Council during the Cold War and their cooperation spawned questionable military actions thereafter.

The book traces the origins of international security cooperation and scrutinizes the moorings of the Security Council’s powers in international law. It critiques the permanent five’s manipulation of the Council to aggressively strengthen their global dominance and legitimise their exercise of power. Their doctrines and actions in countries like Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Libya have hindered the Council’s evolution as a responsible body which has the trust of a globalising world.

This book is an essential read for practitioners and scholars to understand the Security Council and the failure to reform it.