Summary: After 67 years attempting to maintain international peace and security, the UN Security Council currently faces a number of unprecedented challenges to its authority and efficacy. Confronted with new threats and conflicts, new claimants to the privileges of permanent membership, new critics to its claims to legitimacy and authority, and few successes since its 2011 landmark interventions in Libya and Côte d’Ivoire, the Security Council is at a crossroads. From burden shedding to burden sharing, from peacebuilding to robust peacekeeping, the Council is seeking for ways to retain its authority despite its continuing failure in Syria. The talk will take a look inside the Security Council, and address how this conservative organ is imperfectly adjusting to these challenges and half-heartedly seizing the opportunities that lie before it. Bruno Stagno Ugarte joined the UN Security Council Report as Executive Director in 2011 after a sixteen year career in the Costa Rican Foreign Service including a four-year term as Foreign Minister.
