U.S. seeks to expand developing world’s influence at United Nations

The Biden administration is developing plans for overhauling the U.N. Security Council, an initiative that U.S. officials hope will restore confidence in the world’s preeminent governance body by recognizing today’s diffuse map of global power. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, President Biden’s envoy to the United Nations, is consulting with diplomats from the organization’s 193 member states to solicit feedback about a potential expansion of the powerful council ahead of world leaders’ annual gathering in New York this fall.
The evolving U.S. proposal, which is expected to include the addition of up to six permanent seats to the council without granting those nations veto power, reflects Biden’s desire to acknowledge the developing world’s growing clout and to address widespread frustration with the council’s current members and their inability to stanch global conflicts, particularly the war in Ukraine.