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{{Short description|Five countries influential in world affairs}}{{EngvarB|date=October 2018}}{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}(File:Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council.svg|thumb|The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council|254x254px)The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (also known as the Permanent Five, Big Five, or P5) are the five sovereign states to whom the UN Charter of 1945 grants a permanent seat on the UN Security Council: China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States.WEB, United Nations Charter (full text),weblink 28 February 2022, United Nations, en, WEB,weblink Security Council Members, United Nations Security Council, 21 March 2020, The permanent members were all Allies in World War II (and the victors of that war), and are the five states with the first and most nuclear weapons."Table 10.1. World nuclear forces, January 2020", page 326, Chapter 10: "World nuclear forces", Military Spending and Armaments, 2019, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), retrieved March 18, 2023 All have the power of veto which enables any one of them to prevent the adoption of any "substantive" draft Council resolution, regardless of its level of international support.[1] WHAT WE DO: THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620101548weblink |date=20 June 2012 }}The remaining 10 members of the UN Security Council are elected by the General Assembly, giving a total of 15 UN member states on the Security Council.

Permanent members

The following is a table of the current permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.{| class="wikitable"! scope="col" | State! scope="col" | Current state representation! scope="col" | Former state representation! scope="col" | Executive leaders! scope="col" | Permanent representative! scope="row" | China

People's Republic of China}}	Taiwan}} China and the United Nations#Republic of China in the United Nations (1945–1971)	{{efn>On 25 October 1971, with opposition from the United States, the mainland communist China	was given the Chinese seat on the Security Council in place of the Republic of China (1912–1949)>Republic of China on Taiwan.}} (Republic of China (1912–1949)	, Taiwan>1949–1971)	Xi Jinping{{efn>name=PRC-1	President of the People's Republic of China>President of China is legally a figurehead	, but the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (de facto leader) has always held this office since 1993, except for the months of succession of power in China>transition. The current paramount leader is President Xi Jinping.}}Premier of the State Council: Li Qiang{{efn	The de jure head of government of China is the Premier of the State Council, whose current holder is Li Qiang.}}	110px)Fu CongHTTPS://WWW.SCMP.COM/NEWS/CHINA/DIPLOMACY/ARTICLE/3258912/CHINAS-EU-AMBASSADOR-FU-CONG-TAKE-OVER-UNITED-NATIONS-ROLE>TITLE=CHINA’S EU AMBASSADOR FU CONG TO TAKE OVER UNITED NATIONS ROLE	DATE=13 APRIL 2024, 16 April 2024,

! scope="row" | France

French Republic}} (Fifth Republic)	Provisional Government of the French Republic}} (1945–1946){{Flag|French Fourth Republic}} (1946–1958)| President: Emmanuel MacronPrime Minister: Gabriel Attal	110px)Nicolas de RivièreNICOLAS DE RIVIèRE >URL=HTTPS://ONU.DELEGFRANCE.ORG/NICOLAS-DE-RIVIERE-8617	ACCESS-DATE=6 MAY 2020, en,

! scope="row" | Russia

Russian Federation}}	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics}} (1945–1991)| President: Vladimir PutinPrime Minister: Mikhail Mishustin	110px)Vasily NebenzyaПостоянное представительство Российской Федерации при ООН >URL=HTTPS://RUSSIAUN.RU/RU/PERMANENT_MISSION/STRUKTURA	ACCESS-DATE=6 MAY 2020,

! scope="row" | United Kingdom

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland}}| {{n/a}}	Charles III>King Charles IIIPrime Minister: Rishi Sunak	110px)Barbara WoodwardBARBARA WOODWARD DCMG >URL=HTTPS://WWW.GOV.UK/GOVERNMENT/PEOPLE/BARBARA-WOODWARD	ACCESS-DATE=9 DECEMBER 2020, en,

! scope="row" | United States

United States of America}}| {{n/a}}| President: Joe BidenVice-President: Kamala Harris	110px)Linda Thomas-GreenfieldAMBASSADOR LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD >URL=HTTPS://USUN.USMISSION.GOV/OUR-LEADERS/OUR-AMBASSADOR/	ACCESS-DATE=26 FEBRUARY 2021, en,

History

(File:1945 UNSC P5 + colonies.png|right|upright=1.35|thumb|The original permanent members of the United Nations Security Council in 1945 (dark blue) with their respective colonies and other holdings shown (pale blue))File:Vladimir Putin at the Millennium Summit 6-8 September 2000-23.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Leaders of the five permanent member states at a summit in 2000. Clockwise from front left: Chinese paramount leader Jiang Zemin, U.S. President Bill Clinton, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and French President Jacques ChiracJacques ChiracBased on the consensus on the Security Council's structure agreed upon at the 1944 Dumbarton Oaks ConferenceBOOK, Robert C. Hilderbrand, Dumbarton Oaks: The Origins of the United Nations and the Search for Postwar Security, 2001, UNC Press Books, 9780807849507, 122–123, and subsequently at UN's founding in 1945, the five permanent members of the Security Council were the French Republic, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. There have been two seat changes since then, although these have not been reflected in s:Charter of the United Nations#Article 23|Article 23]] of the UN Charter, as it has not been accordingly amended:

• China's seat was originally held by the Nationalist government of the Republic of China (ROC). However, it lost the Chinese Civil War and retreated to the island of Taiwan in 1949. The Chinese Communist Party won control of Mainland China and established the People's Republic of China (PRC). In 1971, UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 recognised the PRC as the legal representative of China in the UN, and gave it the seat on the Security Council that had been held by the ROC, which was expelled from the UN altogether.BOOK, Froehlich, Annette, Seffinga, Vincent, The United Nations and Space Security: Conflicting Mandates between UNCOPUOS and the CD, 2019,weblink 40, Springer, 978-3-030-06025-1, Both the ROC and the PRC continue to claim de jure sovereignty over the entirety of China (including Taiwan).BOOK, Sarmento, Clara, Eastwards / Westwards: Which Direction for Gender Studies in the 21st Century?, 2009,weblink 127, Cambridge Scholars, 978-1-4438-0868-2, BOOK, Hudson, Christopher, The China Handbook, 2014,weblink 59, Routledge, 978-1-134-26966-2, BOOK, Shelley Rigger, Rigger, Shelley, Politics in Taiwan: Voting for Reform, 2002,weblink 60, Routledge, 978-1-134-69297-2, However, only 13 states continue to officially recognise the ROC as the sole legitimate government of China.
• After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia was recognised as the legal successor state of the Soviet Union and maintained the latter's position on the Security Council.JOURNAL, Blum, Yehuda Z., Yehuda Zvi Blum, 1992, Russia Takes Over the Soviet Union's Seat at the United Nations,weblink European Journal of International Law, 3, 2, 354–362, 10.1093/ejil/3.2.354, 2022-10-20, WEB, MacLeod, Andrew, 2022-02-24, Ukraine invasion: Should Russia lose its seat on the UN Security Council?,weblink The Conversation, WEB, MacLeod, Andrew, 2022-02-25, Ukraine invasion: Should Russia lose its seat on the UN Security Council?,weblink King's College London, WEB,weblink How did Russia get USSR's permanent seat on UN Security Council?, 7 March 2022, Menon, Kiran Mohandas, RTÉ.ie,

Additionally, between the founding of the United Nations and the end of the 20th century, many of the overseas territories of the United Kingdom and France became independent with the breakup of the British Empire and French colonial empire, and France had a reduction in de jure territory with the independence of Algeria in 1962.{{efn|At the time, both the law of France and the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories recognized French Algeria as a part of France, instead of a colony of France.}} France maintained its seat as there was no change in its international status or recognition. (During this time, France also reformed its provisional government into the French Fourth Republic in 1946 and into the French Fifth Republic in 1958, both under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle.)The five permanent members of the Security Council were the victorious powers in World War II and have maintained the world's most powerful military forces ever since. They annually top the list of countries with the highest military expenditures along with India and Germany; in 2011, they spent over US$1 trillion combined on defence, accounting for over 60% of global military expenditures (the U.S. alone accounting for over 40%). They are also among the world's top 10 largest arms exporters and are the only nations officially recognised as "nuclear-weapon states" under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), though there are other states known or believed to be in possession of nuclear weapons.

Veto power

The "power of veto" refers to the veto power wielded solely by the permanent members, enabling them to prevent the adoption of any "substantive" draft Council resolution, regardless of the level of international support for the draft. The veto does not apply to procedural votes, which is significant in that the Security Council's permanent membership can vote against a "procedural" draft resolution, without necessarily blocking its adoption by the council.The veto is exercised when any permanent member—the so-called "P5" casts a "negative" vote on a "substantive" draft resolution. Abstention or absence from the vote by a permanent member does not prevent a draft resolution from being adopted.

Expansion

File:G4 Nations.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|The G4 nations: Brazil, Germany, India, and JapanJapanThere have been proposals suggesting the introduction of new permanent members. The candidates usually mentioned are Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan. They compose the group of four countries known as the G4 nations, which mutually support one another's bids for permanent seats.WEB, Sharma, Rajeev,weblink India pushes the envelope at G4 Summit: PM Modi tells UNSC to make space for largest democracies, 27 September 2015, 20 October 2015, First Post, This sort of reform has traditionally been opposed by the Uniting for Consensus group, which is composed primarily of nations that are regional rivals and economic competitors of the G4. The group is composed of Italy and Spain (opposing Germany), Colombia, Mexico and Argentina (opposing Brazil), Pakistan (opposing India), and South Korea (opposing Japan), in addition to Canada, Malta and Turkey. Since 1992, Italy and other council members have instead proposed semi-permanent seats or expanding the number of temporary seats.WEB,weblink Italy Accuses G4 of Foul Play | DW | 27 July 2005, Deutsche Welle, Most of the leading candidates for permanent membership are regularly elected onto the Security Council by their respective groups. Japan was elected for eleven two-year terms, Brazil for ten terms, and Germany for three terms. India has been elected to the council eight times in total, with the most recent successful bid being in 2020.In 2013, the P5 and G4 members of the UN Security Council accounted for eight of the world's ten largest defence budgets, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Leaders of the permanent members

The following are the heads of state or heads of government that represent the permanent members of the UN Security Council {{as of|lc=y|2022}}:File:Xi Jinping 2019.jpg|Xi JinpingParamount leader of the People's Republic of Chinasince {{no wrap|15 November 2012}}{{efn|General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party since 15 November 2012 and President of China since 14 March 2013}}File:Emmanuel Macron (cropped).jpg|Emmanuel MacronPresident of theFrench Republicsince {{no wrap|14 May 2017}}File:Владимир Путин (18-06-2023) (cropped).jpg|Vladimir PutinPresident of theRussian Federationsince {{no wrap|7 May 2012}}{{efn|Previously President of Russia in 2000–08}}File:Official Portrait of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (cropped).jpg|Rishi SunakPrime Minister of theUnited Kingdomof Great Britain and Northern Irelandsince {{no wrap|25 October 2022}}File:Joe Biden presidential portrait (cropped).jpg|Joe BidenPresident of theUnited States of Americasince {{no wrap|20 January 2021}}

Historical leaders

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See also

• List of country groupings

Notes

{{notelist}}

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

• Nico J. Schrijver and Niels M. Blokker (eds.). 2020. Elected Members of the Security Council: Lame Ducks or Key Players? Brill.com.{{full citation needed|date=February 2020}}
• WEB, GPF Staff,weblink Security Council Expansion—A Regional Model, GlobalPolicy.org, April 2005, Global Policy Forum, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090519045239weblink">weblinksecurityreform/cluster1/2005/04italianmodel.pdf, 19 May 2009, This is referred to by some{{who|date=February 2020}} as the "Italian Model".{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

{{UN Security Council| state=expanded}}{{United Nations}}{{UN Charter}}