🇺🇸 The USA
On 17 March 1970 the USA and Britain vetoed a draft against Southern Rhodesia's white-minority government. In October 1983 the USA vetoed a draft that deplored its invasion of the island of Grenada.
The UN Challenged, 1967-89 » The Permanent Five, the Veto and the Agencies, 1967-89
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B5, Key topic 4
- Who the Permanent Five were and how the veto blocked decisions
- How the veto was used in the Cold War, including in 1970, 1980 and 1983
- How the specialised agencies carried on, including ending smallpox
- How to weigh up the UN in the years 1967-89
🔒 Unlock Full Course Content
Sign up to access the complete lesson and track your progress!
Unlock This CourseThe Permanent Five and the veto
The UN Security Council is the part of the UN that can act to keep peace. Five countries have a permanent seat on it: the USA, the USSR, Britain, France and China. These are the Permanent Five (the P5). Until 1971 China's seat was held by the Republic of China, based on Taiwan. In October 1971 the UN gave the seat to the People's Republic of China, based in Beijing.
Since 1965 the Council has had fifteen members, and a resolution needs nine votes. But a "no" from any one of the P5 stops it, even if every other member votes yes. That is the veto. It was set up in 1945 because the Great Powers would not join without it. The weakness was clear: a Council meant to deal with threats to peace could not act against the P5, or against a country that one of them protected.
Key terms:
- Permanent Five (P5): the five countries with a permanent seat and a veto on the Security Council.
- Emergency special session: a meeting of the General Assembly called when the Council is blocked, using the "Uniting for Peace" rule of 1950. The Assembly can only recommend action.
- Ring vaccination: finding each new case of a disease and vaccinating everyone around it, to stop it spreading.
The veto in the Cold War
In the Cold War the USA and USSR were rivals, so each used the veto to protect itself and its friends. In the early years the USSR used it most. By the years 1967-89 both superpowers used it, and so did Britain and France.
🚩 The USSR
In January 1980 the USSR vetoed a draft calling for foreign troops to leave Afghanistan, which it had invaded in December 1979.
Each time, the vetoed draft was blocked and the Council took no new action on that issue. In 1980 the General Assembly met in an emergency special session and voted by a large majority that foreign troops should leave Afghanistan. But the Assembly's votes were only recommendations. The Soviet troops stayed until 1989.
The veto also shaped the Middle East. Resolutions 242 and 338 were passed because the superpowers agreed on those words. When they disagreed, as over Lebanon, the Council could do little more than send a small force with limited powers. In Namibia in 1989 the UN succeeded because the USA and USSR were now working together, and a deal was made outside the Council first.
The agencies keep working
The UN did not only deal with wars. Its specialised agencies, such as the WHO, UNICEF and the FAO, carried on health, food and children's work, and the P5 could not veto what they did. In 1965 UNICEF won the Nobel Peace Prize.
The WHO's greatest success was ending smallpox, a deadly disease that had killed people for centuries. A world campaign began in 1959, and in 1967 the WHO started an Intensified Smallpox Eradication Programme. Teams found each outbreak and used ring vaccination. The USSR had first proposed the campaign in 1958. The USA and USSR both supplied money, vaccine or experts, even though they were Cold War rivals. The last natural case was in Somalia in October 1977, and in May 1980 the WHO announced that smallpox had been wiped out. It remains the only human disease to be wiped out by people.
The agencies were not free of politics. The USA left UNESCO at the end of 1984, complaining about how it was run, and Britain followed in 1985. The agencies still needed money from member states to do their work.
Weighing up the UN, 1967-89
✅ Strengths
Resolutions 242 and 338 set out a plan for peace in the Middle East. UNIFIL put a force in Lebanon in 1978. The UN supervised Namibia's elections in 1989, leading to independence in 1990. The WHO ended smallpox.
❌ Weaknesses
Resolution 242 was not carried out. UNIFIL could not stop the fighting. The veto left the Council silent on Afghanistan and Grenada. Money and troops came from members.
Changed: unlike the League, the UN had a working peacekeeping tradition and agencies that were still growing. Stayed the same: action still depended on the Great Powers agreeing. The best results came when they did, as in Namibia and with smallpox.
Common mistakes
- Saying the veto belongs to every Council member. Only the P5 have it.
- Saying the Assembly could overrule a veto. It could only recommend.
- Saying only the USSR used the veto. The USA used it too.
- Forgetting the agencies. They show the UN achieving a lot where the P5 could not block it.
Exam-style question
How far was the use of the veto responsible for the UN's limited success in the years 1967-89? [16 marks]
You may use the following in your answer:
- the veto in the Security Council
- the specialised agencies
You must also use information of your own.
Model answer
The veto was a major reason why the UN's success was limited in these years, but not the only one, because the UN also relied on members to supply troops, money and cooperation.
The veto often left the Security Council silent. When the USSR invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, it vetoed a draft calling for troops to leave in January 1980. The Assembly then voted for withdrawal by a large majority, but its votes were only recommendations and the Soviet army stayed until 1989. The USA also used the veto, for example in 1983 over its invasion of Grenada. This shows the P5 could protect themselves and their friends, which the founders had accepted in 1945.
However, the veto does not explain every failure. Resolution 242, passed in November 1967, was agreed by the Council, yet it was never fully carried out, because the states involved disagreed about it. In Lebanon, UNIFIL was sent in 1978, but it had no power to force Israel to leave and could not stop the fighting. The weakness there was the force's limited powers, not a veto.
The UN also had successes. The WHO ended smallpox, with the last natural case in 1977, and both superpowers helped, while the agencies carried on their work without any veto. In Namibia in 1989 the UN supervised the elections that led to independence in 1990. That happened because the USA and USSR were by then cooperating.
Overall, the veto was the biggest single limit on the UN's power to act against major powers, since it stopped the Council acting whenever a P5 member's interests were involved. But it was not the whole story, because even agreed resolutions failed when states ignored them. By the test of whether the Council could act on major disputes, the veto was the main cause of limited success. By the test of whether the UN as a whole achieved things, it was one limit among several, and it did best when the Great Powers cooperated.
What lifts it to the top level: it covers several aspects, uses facts beyond the bullets, shows that other factors mattered, and reaches a judgement based on stated criteria.
Exam tip
For "how far was X responsible", write a paragraph on X and then a paragraph on other factors, and finish by judging X against a stated test.