Georgia Tech Model United Nations Conference

Purpose
Under chapter six of the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council was created to mediate "pacific settlement of disputes". In order to achieve this goal, the Security Council may investigate any dispute or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to dispute. Through the Security Council, the United Nations helps prevent outbreaks of international strife from exacerbating and becoming a global crisis. The Security Council was also created to negotiate settlements by providing an open forum of debate and mediation. The first and most crucial step in peacekeeping is the opportunity for a free flow of information. In extreme circumstances, the Security Council has the job of sending in peacekeeping forces to ensure, manually, that crises are not escalated.
Membership
The Security Council is comprised of 15 member states. However, 10 of these states are elected and rotate every two years. As a rule, two of the ten nations come from Western Europe, two from the Americas, two from Africa, two from Asia and the Middle East, one from Eastern Europe, and the final member to rotate every two years between either Asia or Africa. The other five nations are known as the Big Five or the Permanent Member States. These include France, The People's Republic of China, The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Permanent Member States currently have veto power over any Security Council resolution. This means that if any permanent Security Council State votes "nay" to a resolution it is automatically rejected regardless of the other votes. There has been discussion for reform of the membership of the Security Council. In 2004, a proposal was made to increase permanent membership status to include five more States, in particular Japan, Germany, India, Brazil, and an African nation, most likely either South Africa or Nigeria. This proposal has been supported by many nations, including France and the People's Republic of China but needs a two-thirds majority vote to go into effect.
Limitations
The UN Charter explicitly lays out the powers of the Security Council. The Security Council has the power to recommend procedures for peaceful resolution of a dispute, investigate any situation threatening international peace, call upon other nations to completely or partially interrupt economic relations as well as sea, air, postal, and radio communications, or to sever diplomatic relations, and to enforce its decisions militarily, if necessary. The resolutions passed by the UN Security Council are regarded as international law. However, the seemingly limitless power of the Security Council is not without a caveat. The passage of resolutions by the Security Council is totally dependant on a non-negative vote by the five Permanent Members. This can be either an affirmative vote or an abstention. This limitation tends to lead to heavy politicking with and among the Permanent Members and some would argue that rivalries between States, particularly during the Cold-War period prevented many good resolutions from being approved.