The United States has distinct periodic features in its exercise of the Security Council vetoes.The article is devoted to the discussion of the underlying causes of this phenomenon.To examine Washington’s use of veto with a different prism,the paper delves into the strategic value of the international system to the hegemonic power and summarizes America’s international institution strategy.There has been a lot of controversies surrounding the exercise of veto rights.Chapter I “Discrimination of the Concept & Explanation on the Connotation of Veto” defines the veto in accordance with the UN Charter as well as its practice in history and its relationship with modern voting mechanism.By analyzing the information collected from voting records and studying the selected cases,Chapter II has made the change of attitude of the United States to the veto mechanism clearly demonstrated on the timeline.In the early 1940 s,the United States is the first country to propose the establishment of a limited veto system.From 1945 to 1965,Washington strongly opposed and actively engaged in a series of activities trying to abolish the veto system.Entering 1970 s,a180-degree reversal occurred in America’s stance towards the veto right.Washington publicly announced that it would frequently wield this power in the future and it truly did.Since the mid-1980 s,America has been more discreet in its usage of veto.But it refuse to further talk about reforming the veto power of the existing five permanent members of the Security Council.The phased characteristics of America’s use of veto in the Security Council has become a historical epitome of the evolution of the international power structure,which reflects the general trend of the North-South discrepancy replacing the East-West contradiction as the major focus of the United Nations.Chapter III analyzes the strategic value of the international system to the hegemonic power from the dimension of instrumental rationality and normative rationality.By probing into the connotation of American exceptionalism and the hedging between sovereignty and global value,the paper concludes that Washington views the international system mainly as a ruling tool.The conclusion explores the possible influence of this attitude on the future American international institution strategy. |