Power and Diplomacy in the United Nations Security Council: The Influence of Elected Members

The cases of Poland’s 2018-2019 and South Africa’s 2019-2020 terms as elected members (E10) of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) can be used to confront the well-known claim that due to a prevailing democratic, legitimacy or efficiency deficit(s) in the structure and/or working methods of the Council, there is no significant space for the E10 members to be influential. By examining these two representative cases, the E10’s capacity to exert such influence can indeed be detected on multiple levels, which highlights the numerous channels and practices available to the elected members to act as veritable norm entrepreneurs at this most prominent institution of global governance.
Keywords: United Nations Security Council; non-permanent members; elected members; South Africa; Poland