The Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council and International Law

International law is currently under stress due to the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Syria, Yemen, and Libya. Additionally, the growing threats posed by hybrid warfare, disinformation, climate change, terrorism, forced migration, and nationalism are straining international institutions and the ability of governments to collectively address these issues. Notwithstanding the misconceptions many have about international law, states and non-state actors alike still look to international law to solve complex global problems.

But many scholars and practitioners question the relevance and effectiveness of international law in deterring bad behavior and holding recalcitrant states accountable. They point to the Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council (UK, US, France, China, and Russia) (P5), whose blatant disregard for international law and the United Nations Charter is undermining the postwar international legal order. Although the P5 are supposedly the custodians of the international legal order and play an important role in the enforcement of international law, they make exceptions to the law when it is in their national interest to do so, operating with absolute authority and with impunity.
International law is what binds nations as a global community, and without international law, there is no international community. This project seeks to elucidate the importance of international law in the foreign relations of the P5, to better understand their behavior.