The world has changed a lot in the past 78 years. Amid the present crisis of the international order, the countries of the West are striving to change the global balance of power, using for this purpose their dominance in the apparatus of international organisations, including the UN. There are calls from the United States for a reform of the Security Council. According to a position recently voiced by President Joe Biden, the US is in favour of increasing the number of permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council in order to “keep it efficient.”
It is impossible to deny that the UN continues to be a unique organisation, the largest platform for discussing global challenges and resolving crises. Nevertheless, the question of its efficiency and compliance with 21st century’s reality is increasingly under discussion. The on-going crisis in Europe and Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine have exposed the problem of the bloc’s structure within the framework of the UN General Assembly, the speed of the Organisation's response to challenges and its impartiality. Against this background, attempts are being made to replace the UN platform with ad hoc coalitions, and international law with the so-called “rules-based order.”
In his speech at the plenary session of the 19th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the world is changing and “the norms of international law must follow these changes,” but changes must be made “calmly, slowly, according to understandable principles, not by someone else’s rules.” Moscow is convinced that, although reform is overdue, it should be approached in a balanced way, and new seats in the UN Security Council should be given not to the next representatives of the West, but to developing countries.
How effectively does the United Nations respond to challenges and threats? What is its fate in the changing world order? Will the debate on Security Council reform move forward? What is the role of Russia as a founding country in this process? Participants of the discussion will try to answer these and other questions.