Bringing together a range of experts, this book examines the degree to which the UN Security Council is evolving into an international authority with the legitimacy to act on behalf of the international community on a wide range of global issues.

Bruce Cronin is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Master's Program in International Relations at the City College of New York, USA. He is the author of Institutions for the Common Good: International Protection Regimes in International Society and Community Under Anarchy: Transnational Identity and the Evolution of Cooperation.

Ian Hurd is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University, USA. He is the author of After Anarchy: Legitimacy and Power in the UN Security Council.

Part 1: Concepts 1. Introduction Bruce Cronin and Ian Hurd 2. Theories and Tests of International Authority Ian Hurd Part 2: Sources of Council Authority 3. Delegation and the Nature of Security Council Authority Erik Voeten 4. International Consensus and the Changing Legal Authority of the Security Council Bruce Cronin 5. The Security Council as Legislature Ian Johnstone 6. The Security Council and the Challenges and Perils of Normative Overstretch George Andropolous Part 3: The Exercise of Council Authority 7. Creating Authority by the Council: The International Criminal Tribunals Wayne Sandholtz 8. NGOs and the Security Council: Authority All Around But For Whose Interest? Jonathan Graubart 9. The Uniting for Peace Resolution and Other Ways of Circumventing the Authority of the Security Council Mitushi Das and Jean Krasno Part 4: Conclusion 10. Assessing the Council's Authority Bruce Cronin and Ian Hurd