How and why the UN General Assembly is gaining prominence

As world leaders attend the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, there is a chorus of criticisms about the organisation’s failures and limitations. From the inability to sanction Israel amid its genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people, to the failure to condemn the United States’ illegal bombing of Iran or to respond effectively to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the UN has appeared increasingly constrained in recent years.The veto system of the UN Security Council, by which the five permanent members (China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States) can effectively bypass any oversight of their activities, has meant that the Security Council has not intervened in world crises in any meaningful way since the end of the Cold War.And yet, despite these limitations and external attacks, there are bodies of the UN that still play a significant role in world politics.Given the paralysis of the Security Council and the shifting dynamics across the Global North and South, as small and middle powers gain more ground, the General Assembly is steadily rising in prominence as a place where politics doesn’t a...