Security Council Sanctions Committees: From power-based to rule-based decision-making?

The Security Council is the only organ of the international community that can adopt binding resolutions on peacekeeping and peace enforcement. This includes the possibility to impose sanctions on states and even on single individuals. In contrast to punctually imposed sanctions, comprehensive sanction regimes require a large number of decisions of administrative character. As a result of this mandate, the Security Council is no longer just a political organ of great power decisions, especially among the five permanent members, but is entrusted with long-term governance tasks. These decisions are taken by the sanctions committees, which are composed of members of the Security Council and decide by consensus. Sanctions committees shall decide which individuals suspected to be associated with international terrorism are subject to targeted sanctions, or which goods are exempted from import and export trade boycotts. While doing so, the UN Security Council sets the overarching framework for the conduct of the committee. Thus, the establishment of sanctions committees creates a multi-level and functionally differentiated decision-making process. The dissertation project’s objective is to study the impact of this division of labor on the distribution of power among Security Council members and the content of the decisions taken.