Abstract

CRUZ AGUILAR, Sergio Luiz  and  MORI APARECIDO, Julia. International Organizations and COVID-19: The (In)Action of the United Nations Security Council during the Pandemic. rev.relac.int.estrateg.segur. [online]. 2021, vol.16, n.2, pp.21-38.  Epub Dec 31, 2021. ISSN 1909-3063.  https://doi.org/10.18359/ries.5718.

This article discusses the role of international organizations (IOS) in times of crisis from the action of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) against the COVID-19 pandemic. It is argued that the UNSC had difficulties positioning itself amidst the pandemic due to its internal dynamics of interests and competition. The case study with a qualitative approach uses concepts related to bureaucracies, autonomy, legitimacy, competition, and cooperation taken from the literature on IOS and documentary and secondary sources to support our arguments. As the pandemic persists, the studied period covers the first year since the official declaration of this health emergency in March 2020. The evidence confirms that, in the case of the United Nations' response to the pandemic, competition overcame cooperation between some permanent members of the UNSC. In this dispute, the elected members occupied a marginal position in approving resolutions. The Council's paralysis caused the Secretary-General to search for solutions to the effects of the pandemic on peace and international security. Thus, the politicization of the pandemic and the UNSC´S interests and competition have affected decision-making regarding the crisis. As the pandemic is a new problem underway, the article is groundbreaking and, while not intending to present generalized conclusions, gives room to other security and IO studies.

Keywords : COVID-19; international organizations; United Nations Security Council, pandemic; international security.

        · abstract in Portuguese | Spanish     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )