For over 60 years the Untied Nations has tried to play to role in the peace and security of the world. The UN Security Council and its five permanent members (the US, Great Britain, France, Russia, and China) have been central to that effort. From the Berlin Airlift to the Iraq War, from nuclear proliferation to the global war on terrorism, to genocide in Africa, the council has had some successes and many failures. But even amidst its failures, it's provide a kind of pressure valve for the five powers. David Bosco, in his new book Five to Rule Them All: The UN Security Council and the Making of the Modern World
sheds light on the competing visions of what the council is supposed to do vs. what it has actually accomplished and if, in fact, it has any relevance in a globalized 21st Century world. My conversation with David Bosco.
