The writer directs the Center on the US and Europe at the Brookings Institution
It is not hard to mock the resounding defeat of Germany’s bid for a seat on the UN’s Security Council. One commentator called it a foreign policy Gesamtkunstwerk, a total work of art. The term was popularised by Richard Wagner for his revolutionary synthesis of music, visual art, design and architecture. But you get the idea: big, loud and tragic.
The executive organ of the UN has five permanent members (the US, Russia, China, France and the UK) and 10 rotating non-permanent members, elected for two-year terms in the General Assembly from among the other 188 member states, grouped by region. This most recent election was for the 2027-28 period, and two of the five seats up for election were allotted to the so-called Western European and Other States group.