The UN Security Council’s response to COVID-19: from the centre to the periphery?

Jeremy M. Farrall, Christopher Michaelsen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

This article examines the UN Security Council’s response to the escalating COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which has been criticised as hesitant and half-hearted. It argues that the Council’s inability to respond more assertively to the COVID threat was more predictable than surprising. Indeed, the Council’s approach to the COVID threat tended to follow, rather than diverge from, its past practice, exhibiting three increasingly entrenched features of Council decision-making in a crisis. First, the Council is hesitant and ill-equipped to respond to non-traditional or unorthodox threats to international peace and security, even where relevant precedents exist to support such a response. Second, the Council struggles to act when there is friction between permanent members. Third, when all else fails, the Council can still do reliably well on process.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)214-230
Number of pages17
JournalAustralian Year Book of International Law
Volume39
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Externally publishedYes

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