Action or inaction: United Nations Security Council activity, 1994–2013

This article presents new data on the behavior of the United Nations Security Council from 1994 to 2013. Which international issues does the United Nations Security Council act upon? Which issues are ignored, languishing for years on the Council’s agenda? What are the characteristics of the issues that are considered by the Council and what are the characteristics of those that are overlooked? Beginning with the annual Summary Statements on matters of which the Security Council is seized, information was gathered for every agenda item that appears on the Security Council’s agenda during this period. Daily data are recorded for the number of public meetings and private informal consultations held, as well as the number of resolutions (which are voted on), presidential statements (which are a product of consensus), and vetoes that occur. These data offer scholars new opportunities for testing theories of legislative behavior in international institutions, particularly on issues of peace and security, that have not been available heretofore. In this article, we introduce the data and coding processes, present trends, illustrate prospects for research that could benefit from these data and provide an empirical application.