There is a paradox at the centre of the United Nations and the UN Security Council. Humanity and Planet Earth require effective and transparent cooperation with enforceable outcomes between all nations and yet the existence of any effective supranational organisation is in the interests of no one nation.
This paradox explains the tension that sits at the centre of all supranational organisations. Thus, the UN Security Council is largely or even completely ineffective.
Russia’s on-going war with Ukraine could have been prevented if the UN Security Council was an effective supranational organisation. The war could stop tomorrow if all UN Members, with the obvious exception of Russia, agreed to work together to ensure that Russia withdrew from Ukraine. This type of cooperation is impossible as some countries are capitalising on Ukraine’s misfortune.
Russia’s primary challenge is how to end its Ukrainian war by minimising any long-term consequences. There is no indication yet of how Russia is going to try to recover its position in the global economy. Capturing and holding Ukrainian territory might be considered as measures of success, but these are old measures.
The existence of a global economy means that it is critical for a nation to have full access to all the flows of money, materials, people, and expertise that underpin national economic development and growth. Without full access, a nation is disadvantaged.
Representatives of the Russian Government too often remind me of children. Some children get into trouble when thinking errors lead to aggressive behaviour, risk taking, attempts to manipulate others and this then leads to an approach based on blaming others or shirking responsibility. Too often, the Russian response to events is that: ‘it was not us’ or ‘we are not to blame’. The Kremlin is more like a Crèche with a high proportion of children with behavioural problems.
One of the most recent developments in Russia’s war with Ukraine is that Andrey Ledenev, Minister-Counsellor at the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC, has called for a “transparent” investigation into the September 2022 Nord Stream pipeline attacks. In an embassy’s official Telegram note he argued that:
“It could be fruitful to ponder the unwillingness of the collective West to allow a transparent and objective international investigation, the terrorist attacks in the Baltic Sea, under the auspices of the UN Security Council, and to clarify the role of the U.S. in sabotaging the pipelines, factoring in [the US] being a direct beneficiary of the reshaping of the European energy market”.
There are two points to make about this statement.
First, the Nord Stream pipeline attack was a minor incident with limited environmental consequences. This pipeline should never have been built and an effective supranational organisation would not have granted permission for the development of this piece of international infrastructure. The only real point for discussion is the approach that Russia is going to take to removing the pipeline and to address the environmental damage that occurred during its construction.
Second, I am delighted that Andrey Ledenev acknowledges the importance of transparent and objective international investigations undertaken under the auspices of the UN Security Council. This seems to be a major political breakthrough with Russia acknowledging the importance of UN Security Council investigations. Given this, Ledenev’s statement should be rephased in the following manner:
“It could be fruitful to ponder the unwillingness of Russia, and its partners, to allow a transparent and objective international investigation into Russia’s special military operation and this includes war crimes against civilians and the destruction of critical civilian infrastructure including the massive breach of the Nova Kakhovka dam”.
It is time for those involved in Russia’s governance processes to grow up and for the Kremlin to stop acting like a Crèche. There is a well-developed literature on how to teach children to accept responsibility for their actions and perhaps there is much to learn from this literature that could be applied to Russia.
For a child it is important to try to encourage them to understand the links between their actions and outcomes, to make it easier for a child to admit and accept responsibility, developing and applying a set of rules and evaluating progress. Central to this process is educating children to take responsibility for their actions and this process also includes accountability.
The UN Security Council has much to learn from the debate on parenting. Central to this learning should be an on-going discussion on responsibility and accountability. Thus, the UN should ensure that all Member States understand the responsibilities they hold to their citizens and to all living on Planet Earth as well as their responsibilities that come from signing the UN charter.
Responsibility must come with accountability that is enforceable. The problem for all living on Planet Earth is the paradox that prevents effective supranational organisation from occurring.
There are many consequences of this paradox, and this includes the inability to prevent and stop war and pandemics from occurring, but also the failure to develop solutions to adapting and mitigating to climate change. The outcome of this paradox is that all living on Planet Earth suffer and will continue to suffer.
University of Birmingham op-ed by John R. Bryson, Professor of Enterprise and Economic Geography – University of Birmingham
