The UN Security Council Permanent Membership: The Troubling Trend of Expansion and Hegemony

Abstract

The paper is on the UN Security Council (UNSC) permanent membership: The troubling trend of expansion and hegemony. The problem of UN Security Council, which is an exclusive nuclear club, whose powers are unchecked, with lack of true international representation and with powers to veto, is the dominance of the permanent members. The main objective of the study is to investigate an overview of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) permanent membership and examine the Troubling Trend of hegemony and the problem of expansion. The methodology is basically a qualitative and exploratory method, using text, newspapers. The study employs power politics theory as a tool for analysis. One major finding amongst others is that, there is a global hegemony of the permanent members of the Security Council. The permanent members block other member states of the UN, who seeks expansion or vies for permanent seat, through their powers of veto. This paper recommends the expansion of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) permanent membership to include Africa and other power centres for fair representation in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).