Can the UN Security Council help prevent conflicts?

The report argues that the UN Security Council has historically prioritised reactive conflict management and peacekeeping over prevention. It identifies significant hurdles to operationalising prevention, including a lack of unified definitions, budgetary discrepancies, and organisational fragmentation. The authors recommend establishing concrete implementation strategies, improving coordination between UN organs and the African Union, and shifting toward structural prevention that addresses the root causes of conflict.

• The UN Security Council has historically prioritised reactive conflict management and the deployment of peacekeeping operations over the prevention of conflicts, despite prevention being a core part of its mandate.
• There is a significant budgetary imbalance that reflects the Council's preference for reaction over prevention; for example, the 2016 budget for peacekeeping operations was $7.87 billion, while the regular budget was $5.4 billion, with many prevention initiatives relying on volatile voluntary contributions.
• Conflict prevention is difficult to operationalise because it lacks a clear, unified definition and a concrete implementation strategy, particularly when attempting to address structural root causes rather than immediate violence.
• Member states of the Security Council are divided on the approach to prevention: China emphasizes mediation and respect for local will, while some Latin American countries express concerns that prevention could be used as a pretext for military intervention and violations of sovereignty.
• The UN's internal structure is fragmented, with competition and 'silos' between different components—such as the DPA and DPKO—undermining the capacity to implement a cohesive culture of prevention.
• African countries view conflict prevention as a strategic opportunity to strengthen partnerships with the African Union (AU), which has sought to 'silence the guns' by 2020 and created a Mediation Support Unit in 2016 to enhance its capacity.

APA

de Carvalho, G., & Abdenur, A. E. (2017). Can the UN Security Council help prevent conflicts? Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/aitwr-1.pdf

Chicago

de Carvalho, Gustavo, and Adriana Erthal Abdenur. Can the UN Security Council help prevent conflicts? Institute for Security Studies, 2017. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/aitwr-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=de Carvalho |first1=Gustavo |last2=Abdenur |first2=Adriana Erthal |title=Can the UN Security Council help prevent conflicts? |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=June 2017 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/aitwr-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{decarvalho2017can, author = {de Carvalho, Gustavo and Abdenur, Adriana Erthal}, title = {{Can the UN Security Council help prevent conflicts?}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2017}, month = jun, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/aitwr-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }