міжнародна безпека

The article examines some aspects of the problems of reforming the United Nations, which is the largest international organization in the world, established after the end of World War II to maintain peace, develop friendly relations and intergovernmental cooperation among member states. The study focuses on the activities of the UN Security Council, which is one of the key organs of the international organization, as it performs the main function of the UN - ensuring international security.

      In the article, the author analyzes how the understanding of the concept of neutrality of European states and its implementation in their foreign policy strategies changes at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries, along with the change in the international system of relations.  The interesting case of a truly neutral country is Switzerland, whose foreign policy behavior is a challenge to the negative expectations of observers regarding the pessimistic prospects of neutrality as an option for the implementation of the foreign policy course.

The authors review activities of the United Nations Security Council as a guarantor of international peace and security with broad powers to influence infringers of the international law (the right to apply sanctions and use military force against violators of peace and security at one’s own discretion). The article states that at the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century, the UN Security Council was powerless to perform its functions and duties to safeguard international peace and security, as well as to resolve a number of large-scale armed conflicts.