This article contends that separation of powers offers a mitigating force in answering questions about the limits of the authority of the UN’s primary organs and provides a tool through which one can identify where the rule of law is under threat. Whether or not one agrees that separation of powers as such has legal applicability to the UN in a strict sense, there is value in casting the separation of powers lens over the organization as it operates now. This exercise is worthwhile not just for posterity but also because evolution of law ought to be carefully monitored, particularly at a time when regard for the fundamental norms of international law are subject to increasing derision and even direct challenge. That contemporary political tensions have slowed the Security Council from its earlier activism is precisely why this article is timely, because it is in these times that institutional memory gets lost, the boundaries of authority blur, and populist narratives bring the rule of law under threat.

本文认为，三权分立在回答有关联合国主要机关权力限制的问题时提供了缓解的力量，并提供了一种工具，通过它人们可以确定法治受到威胁的地方。无论是否同意严格意义上的三权分立对联合国都具有法律上的适用性，将三权分立的镜头强加于该组织的运作上是有价值的。这种做法不仅值得后代使用，还因为应该仔细监测法律的演变，特别是在对国际法基本准则的关注日益受到嘲弄甚至是直接挑战的时候。当代政治紧张局势已使安全理事会从其先前的积极主义行动中放慢了脚步，这正是本文之所以及时的原因，