Practice APSC Mains Answer Writing on UN Security Council veto reform and alternatives to SWIFT with current BRICS context, model answers and value addition,UNSC veto reform, UN Security Council reform India, G4 UNSC reform, SWIFT alternatives, BRICS payment system, CIPS, local currency settlement.
Today’s questions deal with two institutions created for a very different global order.
The UN Security Council continues to operate with a power structure shaped largely by the aftermath of the Second World War. Meanwhile, international finance is witnessing efforts to diversify a cross-border payments architecture in which SWIFT has long played a central role.
Neither question should be approached as simply “old system versus new system.” The real Mains challenge is to examine why reform pressures have emerged, what alternatives can achieve and what new problems they might create.
UN Security Council Veto: Challenges and the Need for Reform | Mains Answer Writing
GS-II | International Institutions & International Relations
Question:
What are the major challenges associated with the veto power of the UN Security Council? Explain the need for its reform.
150 Words | 10 Marks
Approach
Begin by defining the veto accurately.
Under Article 27 of the UN Charter, substantive Security Council decisions require at least nine affirmative votes and no negative vote by any of the five permanent members. A permanent member therefore possesses the practical ability to block a substantive resolution. Procedural decisions are not subject to this veto.
Then answer in two parts:
Problems with Veto → Why Reform Matters
Avoid arguing that abolition of the veto is the only possible reform. Reform debates include membership expansion, representation, transparency and restraint in veto use.
Introduction
The UN Security Council consists of 15 members, including five permanent members—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The veto was intended to secure the participation of major powers in the collective-security system. However, geopolitical rivalry has frequently turned the same mechanism into a source of institutional paralysis.
Main Body
Decision-making paralysis: A single permanent member can prevent substantive Council action even when a proposal enjoys broad support.
Recent conflicts have repeatedly exposed the difficulty of securing common positions among the P5. UN records show that China and Russia jointly vetoed a Security Council draft as recently as 7 April 2026 on the Middle East.
Representation deficit: The present permanent membership reflects the power distribution of 1945 rather than contemporary economic, demographic and geopolitical realities.
Africa and Latin America have no permanent representation, while major emerging economies also remain outside the category.
Selective collective security: Because P5 members possess their own strategic alliances and interests, Council action may differ depending on which State or conflict is involved.
Legitimacy problem: Repeated inability to act during major humanitarian or security crises can weaken confidence in the Security Council as the principal UN organ responsible for international peace and security.
Unequal sovereign influence: All UN members are formally sovereign equals, yet five States possess a decisive privilege unavailable to the rest.
Why Reform Is Needed
Greater representation: Expansion in permanent and non-permanent categories can better reflect contemporary geopolitical realities.
India, Brazil, Germany and Japan—the G4—have long advocated expansion in both categories. Their reform model also proposes increased representation for Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.
Stronger Global South voice: Developing countries should have greater participation in decisions concerning international peace and security.
Greater accountability in veto use: The UN General Assembly’s 2022 Veto Initiative already requires an Assembly debate following the exercise of a veto, creating an additional layer of political accountability.
Improved effectiveness: Reform should aim to make the Council both more representative and more capable of acting during serious crises.
Current Context
UNSC reform remains a live issue in 2026.
The New Delhi BRICS Declaration of September 2026 again supported comprehensive UN and Security Council reform to make it more democratic, representative, effective and responsive, with greater representation for developing countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has also renewed calls for Security Council reform, including permanent African representation.
Value Addition
A simple framework:
Veto
Original Logic:
Great-Power Consensus → Stability
Contemporary Problem:
Great-Power Rivalry → Paralysis
Therefore:
Reform = Representation + Effectiveness + Accountability
Another useful distinction:
Reforming the Security Council ≠ Merely Abolishing the Veto
Reform includes membership, working methods, representation and possible restraint/accountability surrounding veto use.
Model Answer
The veto enables any of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to block a substantive resolution, even when it otherwise enjoys sufficient support.
While designed to ensure major-power participation in collective security, the veto creates several contemporary challenges. P5 rivalry can produce decision-making paralysis during serious conflicts. The permanent membership also reflects the geopolitical structure of 1945, leaving Africa and Latin America without permanent representation and major developing countries outside the category. Selective use of the veto can further create perceptions that collective-security mechanisms operate differently depending on the strategic interests involved.
Reform is therefore needed to improve both representation and legitimacy. Expansion in permanent and non-permanent categories can give the Global South a greater voice. Greater transparency and accountability surrounding veto use can also discourage its excessive use.
The 2026 BRICS New Delhi Declaration again supported comprehensive Security Council reform.
Thus, reform must balance effective decision-making with equitable representation, making the UNSC more credible and responsive to contemporary global realities.
Conclusion
The central problem is not simply that the Security Council possesses a veto.
It is whether an institution designed in 1945 can retain legitimacy and effectiveness in the geopolitical realities of the twenty-first century.
The desired transition is:
Power Privilege → Wider Representation + Greater Accountability
PYQ Connect
UN reform is a recurring international-relations theme for UPSC/APSC preparation. Candidates should revise it through:
UNSC Structure + Article 27 + Veto + G4 + African Representation + India’s Permanent-Membership Claim + Reformed Multilateralism
A contemporary value addition is that the 81st UN General Assembly opened on 8 September 2026, while reform of global institutions remains a major theme of current multilateral discussions.
Alternatives to SWIFT and the Changing Global Financial Architecture | Mains Answer Writing
GS-II | International Relations
Question:
Why are countries developing alternatives to the SWIFT payment system? Explain their significance for the global financial system.
150 Words | 10 Marks
Approach
Begin with an important clarification:
SWIFT is a messaging network—not a bank, currency or settlement system.
Banks use it to communicate payment instructions securely across borders. The actual transfer of funds occurs through banks and financial-market infrastructure. SWIFT today connects more than 11,500 institutions globally.
Then examine:
Why Alternatives? → What Do They Change? → What Risks Do They Create?
Introduction
SWIFT has long provided common standards and secure messaging for cross-border financial transactions.
However, geopolitical sanctions, technological innovation and growing interest in local-currency trade have encouraged some countries to develop additional payment and messaging channels.
The emerging trend is therefore better understood as financial diversification rather than the immediate replacement of SWIFT.
Main Body
Sanctions vulnerability: Access to international financial infrastructure can become strategically important when financial sanctions are imposed.
Countries exposed to such risks therefore seek alternative channels that reduce dependence on a single international network.
Strategic autonomy: States increasingly regard payments infrastructure as part of economic sovereignty, much as energy or digital infrastructure can be viewed strategically.
Local-currency trade: Some emerging economies are seeking greater use of domestic currencies in bilateral trade to reduce conversion costs and exposure to third-country currencies.
Technological change: Instant-payment systems, central-bank digital currencies and interoperable platforms create new possibilities for faster cross-border settlement.
Important Examples
China’s CIPS: The Cross-Border Interbank Payment System supports clearing and settlement for cross-border and offshore Renminbi transactions. By March 2026 it had 194 direct and 1,597 indirect participants across 126 countries and regions.
Russia’s SPFS: Developed as a domestic financial-messaging alternative after concerns over dependence on external infrastructure.
UPI and Pix: India’s UPI and Brazil’s Pix are not direct replicas of SWIFT. They are domestic instant-payment infrastructures whose interoperability can potentially enable simpler cross-border retail payments.
This distinction is useful in Mains answers because messaging, clearing, settlement and retail-payment systems perform different functions.
BRICS 2026 Context
The issue gained fresh relevance at the September 2026 BRICS Summit in New Delhi.
The BRICS New Delhi Declaration states that the BRICS Payment Task Force is studying cross-border interoperability of payment and messaging channels and the greater use of members’ local currencies for trade and investment. It also explicitly notes that there is no one-size-fits-all model.
India’s Commerce Minister likewise called on BRICS members and partners to link payment systems and promote trade in local currencies.
This is more precise than describing BRICS as creating a single “replacement for SWIFT”.
Significance for the Global Financial System
Diversification: Multiple networks can reduce dependence on one technological architecture.
Resilience: Alternative channels may allow financial flows to continue during geopolitical or operational disruptions.
Greater local-currency settlement: Countries may conduct more bilateral transactions without routing every payment through a third currency.
Innovation and competition: Interoperable instant-payment infrastructure can potentially reduce the cost and time of cross-border transactions.
But diversification also produces risks.
Fragmentation: Multiple networks with different standards could make cross-border finance less seamless.
Compliance challenges: Anti-money-laundering, sanctions screening and regulatory supervision become more difficult across fragmented infrastructures.
Interoperability problems: A system that works domestically is not automatically suitable for international payments.
Value Addition
A strong conceptual box:
SWIFT
= Financial Messaging
CIPS
= RMB Clearing + Settlement
UPI / Pix
= Domestic Instant Payments
Therefore:
Alternative Financial Architecture ≠ One Alternative System
Instead:
Messaging + Settlement + Local Currencies + Interoperability
A useful phrase:
“Diversification without financial fragmentation.”
Model Answer
SWIFT is a secure global financial-messaging network through which institutions communicate cross-border payment instructions. It does not itself transfer money.
Countries are developing additional systems because financial sanctions, geopolitical tensions and technological innovation have increased interest in strategic autonomy and payment resilience. Some emerging economies also seek greater settlement of bilateral trade in national currencies.
Examples include China’s CIPS, which provides clearing and settlement for cross-border RMB transactions, and Russia’s SPFS messaging network. BRICS countries are also examining interoperability among domestic payment and messaging systems rather than creating a single substitute for SWIFT.
Such diversification can strengthen resilience, encourage faster and cheaper cross-border payments and facilitate greater local-currency trade.
However, competing networks can also create fragmentation, interoperability difficulties and regulatory-compliance challenges.
The September 2026 BRICS New Delhi Declaration therefore emphasised pragmatic interoperability while recognising that no single model suits all members.
The emerging financial order is thus unlikely to see SWIFT suddenly replaced; instead, it may become more multipolar, interoperable and diversified.
Conclusion
The important trend is not simply “de-SWIFTisation”.
It is the gradual development of multiple channels through which cross-border financial communication and settlement can occur.
Answer-Writing Takeaways from 25 September
Today’s two questions appear to concern unrelated institutions, but they reveal a similar shift in global governance.
The Security Council debate concerns excessive concentration of political decision-making power.
The payments debate concerns excessive dependence on a limited set of financial infrastructures.
The two frameworks are:
UNSC:
Representation → Legitimacy → Effectiveness
Global Payments:
Diversification → Resilience → Interoperability
A good Mains answer should avoid simplistic binaries such as:
“abolish the veto” or “replace SWIFT.”
Instead, explain why the present arrangement is under pressure, what reforms are being explored and what trade-offs those reforms create.
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