What's Driving the Caribbean Community's Thinking on UN Security Council Reform?
On Oct. 21, Guyana again called Russia out on its war on Ukraine—providing a window into regional thinking on the Council-related reform imperative.
As United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reform gets top billing, with large states stealing the limelight, a key question is what the UN's smaller member states' take is on this matter. The answer, to a significant degree, lies in making sense of what the UNSC means for them in the first place. Key drivers of the thinking of rarely discussed groupings of such states vis-à-vis public-facing, expert-led debate on UNSC reform might well offer fresh insights as to the matter. The 14 mostly Anglophone sovereign small nations that comprise the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), a Caribbean Basin-based regional bloc that includes Guyana, serve as an instructive case study in that regard.
CARICOM member states, in keeping with their constituent treaty, "co-ordinate" their foreign policies. And these states have well-established agency in respect of UNSC reform, including at the level of the Intergovernmental Negotiations. Notably, they approach this reform process in a holistic manner—i.e. 'the general calculus'. But they also have three other compelling, specific interests in mind.
The General Calculus
With the international system in flux, the Western-led international order and its institutions have met with scathing criticism. The crux of the matter is that these small states are thinking big, flexing their political muscle in making the case for "[s]trengthen[ing] multilateralism by reforming inequitable and unfair rules."
For instance, Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley does not pull her punches in demanding that the world needs a "reset." Prime Minister Mottley argues that "the UN, and especially the Security Council, needs reform, underlining that the current configuration of permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council has no place in the 21st century." (Of note, Prime Minister Mottley has garnered global acclaim for spearheading the development of innovative, homegrown policy efforts to "reshape global finance and support climate-vulnerable nations.")
A major reason for this kind of diplomatic angling is that CARICOM member states know all too well how the international system is heavily weighted in major powers' favour, compromising their foreign policy hand. They value security highly in the overall scheme of things, not least because once (non)conventional threats come to pass they are difficult to undo. And as a general rule, "the best guarantee of their security is a universal collective security system prepared to resist aggression on their behalf."
Accordingly, these types of states' interests are best served by their support of efforts to have the UN come into its own as an "effective world security agency." In this vein, "[t]hey have also placed the issue of small state security on the agenda of the General Assembly and the Security Council and have been active in promoting the work of the many agencies of the UN, particularly on the environment." It is also the case that, traditionally, UNSC power brokers "helped to increase the role and power of the General Assembly, and thus of the small states."
A Matter of Status, and more
For these states, an elected seat on the Security Council is a diplomatic cachet vis-à-vis the international community. This is partly because membership in the security body raises the seat holder's standing and influence on the international stage. (Indeed, this is an important part of the calculus behind such states securing elected Council membership—in keeping with established criteria.)
It is also because non-permanent membership in the UNSC is an important means by which, having regard to "two broad categories of qualitative factors," these states can confront the power advantage that large states exercise relative to them. Taken together, those factors "determine the ability of small states to influence the UNSC." Of note, they are:
"[firstly] administrative competence in areas such as knowledge, initiative, and diplomatic, coalition and leadership skills; [secondly] is the image of the state in the international system, with specific regard to its perceived neutrality or reputation as a norm entrepreneur in particular policy fields."
What all of this should make clear is that to make progress in status-seeking type foreign policy roles, key to the endeavor is being dialled in to a small state diplomatic playbook.
Eyeing the Nexus between Foreign Policy Priorities and the UNSC Agenda
In securing a seat at the UNSC table, a given CARICOM member state also has a chance to connect foreign policy priorities to the UNSC agenda. It does so seated among the international community's heavyweights—the veto-wielding P5. Crucially, and with the regional grouping's core interests in mind, a CARICOM member state UNSC seat holder engages in high-level diplomacy behind the scenes and in full view of the international community.
Guyana, currently a non-permanent member of the UNSC, did score recent successes in respect of the Security Council. This is against the backdrop of an especially perilous moment for the emergent petrostate, which remains in the crosshairs of Venezuelan Essequibo-directed realpolitik.
Moreover, Guyana has influenced the thematic thrust of Council deliberations in other ways. It has wielded the Security Council Presidency, which rotates on a monthly basis, to good effect—underscoring the body's central role in international politics.
It's also a Question of Survival
Yet, as one geopolitical epoch gives way to another, there have been successive setbacks in the UNSC's ability to function to its full potential. This situation has spurred calls (which CARICOM member states have gotten behind) for reform of the Council. (The UNSC has come under fire for being "stuck in a time warp.") It is apt for such small states to shoulder that burden—at least in part—as they "are at a bigger risk of international law breaches."
In this regard, they are all for "the push for [UNSC] reform." This is in keeping with a tradition—which goes back decades—of small states' strong support for "enlarging the councils of the United Nations and in restricting the veto power."
More broadly, such foreign policy action goes to the heart of smaller nations' survival à la the study of international relations.
Dr. Nand C. Bardouille is manager of The Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean in the Institute of International Relations at The University of the West Indies’ (The UWI’s) St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of The UWI.
