Analyses of the role of law in international politics tend to revolve around a central question: is law a reflection of power or a constraint on power? Answers to that question are unsatisfying (and inconclusive) when reduced to an inquiry into the power of law to directly affect behavior. In this chapter, I seek to broaden that inquiry by considering the impact of law in terms of the different forms of power elaborated in this volume. I do so by examining the relevance of legal norms and discourse in the Security Council of the United Nations. My argument is that the legal discourse demonstrates three forms of power: it shapes the conditions or terms of interaction among all those associated with Council practice (productive power); it indirectly steers action in a certain direction (institutional power); and, when wielded effectively by individual actors, it can directly affect the positions of states (compulsory power).

One might imagine that compulsory power alone is determinative in Security Council deliberations. Clearly, states with the greatest material resources and the veto dominate the terms of debate in the Council and hold disproportionate power over others. By offering rewards and wielding threats, they can secure votes to impose binding obligations and enforce those obligations through economic sanctions and military action. They may also wield “soft power,” inducing compliance through persuasion and the force of ideas, as well as material incentives and disincentives (Nye, 2002).