Power Transition, Peaceful Change and the UN Security Council: Exploring the Role of Social Structure in International Political Change

Abstract

The present study is an inquiry into power transition and how it relates to international social structure comprised of state practice, norms, international law and international organisations. It examines how the behaviour of rising powers and international political change in the context of power transition are governed and guided by international social structure through exploring the interface between three themes in International Relations scholarship: power transition, the interwar debate on peaceful change and reform of the UN Security Council. Via integration of elements of English School theory and hitherto neglected, but nevertheless valuable insights from the interwar debate on peaceful change, the study sets out the socio-structural conception of power transition—or, to be more accurate, of international political change in the context of power transition—as an institutionally governed process, presents a distinctive way of theorising power transition that radically departs from the materialistic, mechanistic and state-centric conception of power transition prevalent in the existing literature on power transition, and develops a framework for analysing actual cases of power transition from the socio-structural perspective, taking Security Council reform as a case study. The study emphasises the diversity of institutions governing change in international society, highlighting the role of international law and international organisations designed for the maintenance of international peace and security, such as the League of Nations and the UN, in managing international political change in the context of power transition, and showing the role that the Security Council as an agent of international political change plays in entrenching the institution of peaceful change in contemporary international society via exercise of its powers under Chapter VI and potentially Chapter VII of the UN Charter. From this standpoint, the study questions and reframes the existing debate on Security Council reform, specifying key issues to be addressed in future debate thereon.