Coalitional dynamics in the UN Security Council: between confrontation and concert

The article analyses whether the UN Security Council (UNSC) has become a forum for great power competition and how the great powers are managing conflicts within it. Widely seen as outdated and in need of reform, the UNSC is also an institution in which global challengers, such as China and Russia, are already present and actively engaged while resisting reform. This article explores the period from 2010 to 2025. It identifies that when confrontation peaks, the UNSC adopts elements of a concert, a sign that the institution is adapting through informal mechanisms to maintain stability.