The Brazilian government has pursued a reform of the Security Council as a main topic of its foreign policy agenda for at least 20 years. This article analyses, in a critical and theoretically informed way, the argument advanced to justify this demand, while trying to answer two separate and interrelated questions: (i) does the power configuration of the post-Cold War international system correspond to the expectations put forth by the proponents of the reform?; and (ii) given the actual power structure of the current international system, would an expansion of the Security Council actually improve the effectiveness of the UN's collective security system?
Brazil; Security Council; Balance of Power; Unipolarity
