The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is an institution, specifically one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, with the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. It was formed on October 24, 1945, after World War II, to succeed the League of Nations and solve the problem of preventing future global conflicts.
The UNSC is composed of 15 Members: five permanent members (P5) and ten non-permanent members. The P5—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—were chosen in the wake of World War II and each holds the power of veto. The ten non-permanent members are elected by the UN General Assembly for two-year, nonconsecutive terms to ensure equitable geographic representation.
The Council's mechanism is governed by the UN Charter. Under Chapter VI, it can call on parties to peacefully resolve disputes through negotiation or arbitration. Crucially, Chapter VII empowers the UNSC to take more assertive actions, including identifying a "threat to the peace" (Article 39), imposing sanctions (Article 41), or authorizing the use of force to maintain or restore peace. The UNSC is the only UN body with the authority to issue resolutions that are binding on all 193 UN member states. Decisions on substantive matters require nine affirmative votes, including the concurring votes of all five permanent members (Article 27).
The UNSC connects directly to the UN General Assembly, which elects the non-permanent members and receives the Council's annual reports. A key related concept is the G4—Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan—which mutually support each other's bids for permanent seats, arguing the Council's structure is anachronistic and unrepresentative of the current world order. The Council's composition was last changed by an amendment to the UN Charter in 1965, which increased the non-permanent seats from six to ten. The number of permanent members has stayed the same since its founding, though the seats for China and Russia have changed hands (People's Republic of China replaced the Republic of China in 1971, and the Russian Federation succeeded the Soviet Union in 1991). Calls for reform, including the expansion of both permanent and non-permanent seats, have intensified recently, but the requirement for all P5 members to ratify any Charter amendment makes change extremely difficult.