The establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission: reflecting power shifts in the United Nations

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the changing distribution of international power by taking the example of the establishment of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC). The paper points to tensions between the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly over the responsibility for the PBC and in the composition of the Commission’s Organizational Committee. These tensions portray the reality of the current international system that is characterized by a shift in the geopolitical power distribution. It is a shift from a system in which the Security Council, strongly marked by the veto power of the permanent members, is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security to a multilateral one that reflects an increased involvement of non-permanent members in the governance of international peace and security. The Commission marks a transformation of the UN from a system in which power of a state is understood in military terms to one that recognizes the growing importance of other aspects such as economic influence and geographical representation.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express his deepest gratitude to Dr Geoffrey Edwards, Professor John Loughlin and Dr Etain Tannam for their insightful advice and support. I would like to express my special thanks to Dr Philip Cunliffe, Dr Marina Henke, Dr Séverine Autesserre, and participants at conferences where I presented some ideas of this paper as well as anonymous reviewers for their most helpful comments. I am also grateful to my interviewees and former colleagues from the UN for their time and insights.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

About the author

Vladimir Kmec is a Postgraduate Scholar at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, and a Government of Ireland Research Fellow at the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin. He has professional experience with the UN (DPKO, UNMAS), Amnesty International and civil society organizations.

ORCID

Vladimir Kmec http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4522-8853

Notes

1 UNGA, “Resolution 60/180,” 1; UNSC, “Resolution 1645,” 1.

2 The PBA comprises three interrelated bodies: the PBC, the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) and the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO). The review the result of which is the report ‘Challenge of Sustaining Peace: Report of the Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture’ assessed the policies that guide UN peacebuilding activities. UNGA and UNSC, “Letter dated 29 June 2015”; For an analysis of the PBC in the light of the 2015 review see De Coning and Stamnes, UN Peacebuilding Architecture.

3 Berdal, “The UN Peacebuilding Commission”; Olonisakin and Ikpe, “The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission”.

4 Mearsheimer, “The False Promise”; Jackson and Sørensen, Introduction to International Relations, 52.

5 Taylor and Curtis, “The United Nations.”

6 Keohane, International Institutions and State Power.

7 Wight, International Theory, 34.

8 Nye, “Soft Power”; ‘Part II’ in Woods Explaining International Relations.

9 Nye, The Future of Power.

10 O’Neill, “Building Better Global Economic BRICs”; Zakaria, The Post-American World. With the inclusion of South Africa, BRIC was renamed to BRICS. Other countries are also considered as emerging powers. Murphy, Rising Powers and the Future of Global Governance.

11 Nye, “Soft Power,” xv.

12 Johns and Pelc, “Who Gets to Be in the Room?”; Steinberg, “In the Shadow of Law or Power?”.

13 Weiss and Abdenur, Emerging Powers and the UN; Keck and Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders.

14 Chaudhury, “India Changes Tack”.

15 UNGA, “Draft Resolution: Security Council Reform Process.” The L.69 Group is a group of 42 developing countries that seek a comprehensive reform of the UNSC.

16 Permanent Mission of Saint Lucia to the UN, “Statement by Ambassador Menissa Rambally.”

17 UNGA, “Uniting for Peace,” 10.

18 Boutrous-Ghali, “Agenda for Peace: Report of the Secretary-General,” art. VI (55); II (21). Boutrous-Ghali adopted the concept of peacebuilding from Galtung. Galtung, “Three Approaches to Peace,” 282–304. The UN understands peacebuilding as a practice of post-conflict reconstruction. Due to increasingly complex crises, peacebuilding is no longer an exercise that follows after peacekeeping, however. Many conflict situations require deployment of peace enforcement, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and other tools of crisis management simultaneously. Contemporary peacekeeping operations have become increasingly multidimensional, often including peacebuilding tasks. Bellamy, Williams, and Griffin, Understanding Peacekeeping; Gowan and Johnstone, “New Challenges for Peacekeeping.”

19 UNGA, “In Larger Freedom.”

20 Berdal, “The UN Peacebuilding Commission.”

21 De Carvalho and de Coning, “Rising Powers and the Future of Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding”; Wiharta, Melvin and Avezov, The New Geopolitics of Peace Operations.

22 Bellamy, Responsibility to Protect, 167–94; Baranyi, “Introduction: What Kind of Peace,” 3–31.

23 UNGA, “2005 World Summit Outcome,” 24.

24 UNGA resolution 60/1 already established the PBC. However, resolutions 60/180 and 1645 are considered the establishing or constitutive resolutions since they operationalized the decision of resolution 60/1. UNGA, “Resolution 60/180”; UNSC, “Resolution 1645”; UNGA, “Draft Resolution Submitted by the President of the General Assembly.”

25 In addition to UNSC and UNGA, the PBC can also advise the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Office of the UN Secretary-General. UNGA, “Resolution 60/180,” 2; UNSC, “Resolution 1645,” 2.

26 UN, Charter of the United Nations, art. 22, 29.

27 Berdal, “The UN Peacebuilding Commission”.

28 UNGA, “66th Plenary Meeting,” 9.

29 UN, Charter of the United Nations, art. 24.1.

30 A representative of the UK suggested that such a concern was justified due to the rights given to the UNSC by the UN Charter. Interview by author with a representative of the UK Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, 11 Dec. 2009. A similar conclusion could be drawn from Berdal’s reference to Bolton’s attempt to remove conflict prevention and development from the tasks of the PBC to place it under the control of the UNSC. Berdal, “The UN Peacebuilding Commission”.

31 UNSC, “Resolution 1646,” 1.

32 UN, “Security Council Resolution 1646 (2005).”

33 UN, “Address by H.E. Mr. Junichiro Koizumi”; UN, “Address by H.E. Mr. Mathieu Kérékou”; UN, “Address by H.E. Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika”; UN, “Address by H.E. Mr. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo”.

34 UN, “Address by H.E. Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen”; UN, “Address by H.E. Mr. Benjamin William Mkapa.”

35 UN, “Address by H.E. Mr. Traían Basescu.”

36 UN, “Statement by H.E. Mr. Kostas Karamanlis.”

37 Hyde, “The State of U.S.”

38 UNGA, “Official Records: 70th Plenary Meeting.”

39 EU Presidency Statement, “United Nations General Assembly.”

40 EU member states jointly fund more than 40 per cent of the peacekeeping budget, 38 per cent of the regular UN budget, and more than 55 per cent of global development aid. UN, “Committee on Contributions”; EEAS, “The EU and the UN.”

41 Permanent Mission of Denmark to the UN and Permanent Mission of the United Republic of Tanzania to the UN, “Letter to All Permanent Representatives.”

42 Each cluster had a minimum of 40 states, following the principle of equitable geographical distribution. These sessions were closed to the media and the public. UNGA, “Resolution 59/291,” 5.

43 Some representatives argued that negotiations on the final version were restricted to 16 states – the club of powerful states. UN, “Sixtieth General Assembly Plenary Meeting.”

44 UNGA, “Addendum 2 to In Larger Freedom,” 5.

45 UNGA, “Draft Resolution: Security Council Reform Process,” 24.

46 UNGA, “Resolution 60/180,” 4; UNSC, “Resolution 1645,” 4.

47 Ibid.

48 Ibid.

49 UN, Charter of the United Nations, art. 12 (1), (2).

50 UNGA, “Resolution 60/180,” 4; UNSC, “Resolution 1645,” 4.

51 Ibid.

52 He also argued that

[t]he authority of the Security Council to decide whether and when the Commission should be asked to address such matters is important to ensure that the Council can effectively exercise its primary responsibility under the Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security.

UNGA, “66th Plenary Meeting,” 5.

53 UNSC, “Resolution 1653”.

54 Conflicts directly harm the interests of these states. For example, in 2008, Chinese oil workers were kidnapped in Sudan on several occasions. BBC, “China Workers Abducted in Sudan.”

55 UNSC, “Statement by the President of the Security Council,” 1.

56 UNGA, “66th Plenary Meeting,” 5.

57 Ibid.

58 UNGA, “Resolution 60/180,” 2–3; UNSC, “Resolution 1645,” 2–3.

59 UNGA, “66th Plenary Meeting,” 5.

60 UNGA, “Resolution 60/180,” 2–3; UNSC, “Resolution 1645,” 2–3.

61 As a result, the ten non-permanent members of UNSC have two seats only.

62 For example, Egypt, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, India and Switzerland. UNGA, “66th Plenary Meeting,” 11ff.

63 Ibid., 10.

64 Special Research Report: Peacebuilding Commission.

65 This is visible in situations when the PBC decides on who is invited to the meetings of the CSCs. For instance, the French representative suggested that the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie should be invited. The representatives from Brazil and Chile argued that NGOs should not take part in meetings. Brazil also questioned the participation of the European Commission. UN, “Summary Record of the 2nd Meeting,” paras. 16–24; UN, “Summary Record of the 5th Meeting.”

66 Fieldnotes by author from the observation of the Informal Meeting of the CSC of the PBC on Burundi, New York: UN Secretariat, 14 Oct. 2009.

67 UN, “Provisional Rules of Procedure,” 1–2.

68 UNGA, “Resolution 60/261,” 1–2.

69 ECOSOC, “Resolution 2006/3”.

70 UNGA, “Resolution 60/180”; UNSC, “Resolution 1645.”

71 Special Research Report.

72 Tryggestad, “State Feminism Going Global,” 464–82.

73 Interview by author with an official of the PBC, New York, Dec. 2009.

74 UN, “Summary of the Visit of H.E. Mr. Guillermo E. Rishchynski”; High Commission of Canada in Ghana, “Canada – Sierra Leone Relations.”