United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres plans to make prevention of wars and armed conflicts the hallmark of his administration of the United Nations. Though geopolitical circumstances have changed since the United Nations was established in 1945, the aim of preventing wars and other forms of armed conflict is still as vital today as it was over 70 years ago. The only question is, how to achieve this?

A recent World Bank-United Nations study “Pathways for Peace — Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict,” intends to find answers to this question. Yet the study is misleading in three fundamental ways: (i) it ignores the UN Charter, (ii) it obscures the UN’s core issue of war and peace, and (iii) it side-steps the UN’s collective decision-making process. As an alternative, this paper proposes three steps towards reinvigorating the UN’s role in preventing wars and armed conflicts that are grounded in the UN Charter.