Talk About UN Reform Is Hot Air. Here Is Why.

Sure, you could make small, tiny, insignificant changes, maybe add a few more non-permanent members to the Security Council, maybe make the non-permanent members sit there for a few years more, maybe add an entirely new category of members. Yes, that's possible. But all of this will be inconsequential because the permanent Security Council member will never ever be willing to diminish their own relative power or even give up their Veto (or share it) in the council. So all and any talk about "reforming" the UN in any meaningful way that would include drastic changes to the way the 5 permanent members are wielding power will not happen. All talk to the contrary is meant for domestic consumption, not as a real proposal of a realistic way forward for the UN. Here is why.Show more

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Pascal’s academic articles about neutrality studies:

“In Defense of Neutrals: Why They’re More Than Fence Sitter” Foreign Policy, June 6, 2023. https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/06/06/ukraine-russia-war-neutrality-nonalignment/

“The Future of Neutrality”. Geneva Center for Security Policy, Policy Briefs, no.4, 2023. ISBN: 978-2-88947-407-3.

“Dual-Neutrality for the Koreas: A Two-Pronged Approach toward Reunification.” Defense & Security Analysis, 2022, http://doi.org/10.1080/14751798.2022.2085109

“The Politics and Diplomacy of Neutrality.” Oxford Bibliographies in International Relations, New York: Oxford University Press, 2022, http://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199743292-0307

“Neutrality Studies.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies, New York: Oxford University Press, 2022, http://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.680).

“Going East: Switzerland’s Early Consular Diplomacy toward East and Southeast Asia.” Traverse: Zeitschrift für Geschichte 27 no. 1, 2020, 23–34, http://doi.org/10.5169/seals-881084

“Violent Conflicts and Neutral Legations: A Case Study of the Spanish and Swiss Legations in Wartime Japan.” New Global Studies 11, no.2, 20 17. 85–100, http://doi.org/10.1515/ngs-2017-0018

Pascal’s books about neutrality studies:

Lottaz Pascal, and Ingemar Ottosson. Sweden, Japan, and the Long Second World War 1931–1945. London: Routledge, 2021. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781003182061/sweden-japan-long-second-world-war-pascal-lottaz-ingemar-ottosson

Lottaz Pascal, Heinz Gärtner, and Herbert Reginbogin, eds. Neutral Beyond the Cold: Neutral States and the Post-Cold War International System. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2022, https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666901665/Neutral-Beyond-the-Cold-Neutral-States-and-the-Post-Cold-War-International-System

Reginbogin, Herbert, and Pascal Lottaz, eds. Permanent Neutrality: A Model for Peace, Security, and Justice. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2020, https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793610287/Permanent-Neutrality-A-Model-for-Peace-Security-and-Justice

Lottaz Pascal, and Herbert Reginbogin, eds. Notions of Neutralities. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2019, https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498582261/Notions-of-Neutralities