Libya

On Thursday the United Nations voted ten to zero ( 5 abstentions) to authorize the use of “all necessary measures” to protect the people of Libya from further violence. The United Nations was created to provide a global institutional structure through which states could settle conflicts. It was designed based on the principle of collective security. In the past the United Nations has been hugely ineffective at executing this idealistic idea, which requires multiple actors with different ideals and goals to act as one. This vote on Thursday, which was followed by an open air assault on Saturday and involved ships and boats from the United States, Italy, Great Britain, and Canada represents a huge step forward for the organization.

Within the United Nations, the body with the most power is the Security Council. This council has a total of fifteen members, five of these are called the permanent members and the other ten are elected for two year terms. The countries who hold the five permanent seats are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Each one of these five permanent members has a special veto power which allows them to block a resolution from going through. In the past this has been a major sticking point for the organization. While the security council was waffling back and forth over the very definition of genocide and whether or not it was occurring, hundreds of thousands of people were slaughtered in Rwanda and Bosnia. And when the United Nations attempted to prevent the same thing in Dafur by placing an arms embargo over the region, two of the permanent members China and Russia refused to comply.

So you can see why it's such a huge step forward when we note that in the case of Libya, two of the five abstaining votes were China and Russia. The fact that these two countries, despite disagreeing on the use of military force to intervene, could be convinced to simply abstain from voting as opposed to vetoing represents a huge victory for the Security Council. It remains to be seen whether or not this UN sanctioned action will be effective at accomplishing the goals set out, but the very fact that such decisive multilateral action was taken is an exciting event and presents a positive outlook for the organization!