Polarization in International Politics

Text Analysis of the Meeting Records of the United Nations Security Council

Abstract

The United Nations Security Council is one of the primary organs of the United Nations, which is primarily responsible for the maintenance of international peace. It is also a significant battleground for great-power politics where the permanent members of the Council (the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China) constantly engage in mutual confrontation and cooperation. This study analyzes the official meeting records of the Council using large-scale text analysis methodologies such as word embedding. Focusing on one of the most consequential notions for the Council deliberations, ”threat to the peace,” the study quantitatively represents the members’ conceptions concerning this notion, and rigorously measures the discrepancies among these conceptions. The study thus clarifies how the polarization among the major powers has unfolded over the past decades.