Reformer-in-chief?

Bruce Jones and Richard Gowan survey the field on Security Council reform and conclude that there’s only one actor that can lead the charge. Rising powers like India and Brazil can exert pressure, but are likely to run into opposition. China, which is comfortable being the only permanent Asian member of the Council, is skeptical ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

Bruce Jones and Richard Gowan survey the field on Security Council reform and conclude that there's only one actor that can lead the charge.

Bruce Jones and Richard Gowan survey the field on Security Council reform and conclude that there’s only one actor that can lead the charge.

Rising powers like India and Brazil can exert pressure, but are likely to run into opposition. China, which is comfortable being the only permanent Asian member of the Council, is skeptical towards any major alterations. That leaves just one potential Reformer-in-Chief. It’s the United States. Of all the leaders in New York this week, Barack Obama is the only one who can call for Security Council reform without looking either too self-interested or too constrained to lead it.

If the administration has a plan, it’s being kept well under wraps. American leadership on Council reform would mesh nicely with its recent effort to revamp IMF governance, with one important caveat: the U.S. believes it can reform the IMF without diluting American influence at the institution. It’s not at all clear that the same is true of the Council.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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