PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · The United Nations
Discuss the significance and urgency of the UN Security Council reforms. Explain the relevance of the reforms proposals made by the UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres for the developing countries.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
significance: Charter nucleus of the peace system; no democratisation while the strongest organ is unrepresentative; Africa and Latin America without permanent seats → urgency: Council fails wherever a P5 interest is engaged (Rwanda, Syria, Ukraine); Tirkey → archaic methods, Masood Azhar listing delayed a decade; weak states bear the cost → Guterres's proposals: three pillars — development system, peace and security architecture, Secretariat; DPPA + DPO under regional ASGs → Barnett → reactive UN prolongs suffering; the redesign answers this — relevance for developing countries: the gain lands where missions deploy and development money goes — present position: UN80 by 2026 largely austerity; Gowan → dependence on two assessed contributors
Body flow
Ng → legitimacy = effectiveness + representation; Guterres supplies only the first. representation needs Charter amendment, guarded by the veto → Ezulwini and L69 claims for developing /small-island seats halt there
Counter-view
R!I relevant but incomplete: improves what the UN delivers to developing states, not what they decide within it R2 administrative reform buys the Council time; without membership reform, every efficiency gain deepens dependence on the same few powers
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
