Penholding in the UN Security Council: A Window of Opportunity

As an elected member of the UN Security Council between 2021 and 2022, Norway had the opportunity to achieve results within one of the world's most powerful institutions. As a penholder on Afghanistan, Norway accomplished several important press statements, presidential statements and the 2022 extension of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). The context for this work was the seizure of power by the Taliban in Afghanistan in August 2021, and the invasion of Ukraine by the veto power Russia in February 2022. Based on interviews with Norwegian diplomats, and other elected and permanent members, this article investigates the informal penholder system in the UN Security Council. Furthermore, it looks into Norway's role and experience as the penholder for Afghanistan. Practice theory brings insight to how an informal practice like penholding in the UN Security Council can provide influence for elected members if they know how to take advantage of this role. The article concludes that penholding is an important role for elected members in order to achieve influence in a specific case, but also to promote one's own priority areas. However, influence through penholding is still conditioned by the country's social capital, and goodwill from permanent members of the Security Council.