Abstract:
This article argues that during the 2022 Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine, the
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) failed to create the framework conditions
to facilitate the mediation of the crisis due to the systemic constraints created by the
veto powers of the Permanent Five (P5) members of the Council. Specifically, the
institutional gap created by a dysfunctional UNSC, efforts to mediate ongoing and
future crises in which one or more members of the P5 are involved are confronted by
the same systemic failure. Given the reality of the UNSC’s paralysis and the indefinite
postponement of UN reform, this article argues for the need for radical transformation
of the international system and the articulation of a new global democratic architecture,
which includes a new global infrastructure for mediation. The article concludes with
a discussion of how a UN Charter review process can lay the foundation for the
establishment of this new global democratic dispensation, which includes a new global
infrastructure for mediation.
