What is it?
UNSCdeb8 is a queryable database of verbatim statements given at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). It is a public resource that allows users to identify, trace and map specific terms and word combinations within the comprehensive corpus of articulations made at the Council. Users can make visible how these terms are distributed across time, meeting and member state category. They can also export search lists for further processing.
The database is built on the English-language versions of the official meeting records of the UNSC. It currently includes all statements made by the representatives of the 15 UN Security Council members, during public meetings, between 2010-2018. It does not currently include other statements, such as by invited actors. The import of additional data years and statements made by invited actors is work in progress.
Different to the single-session PDFs and annual reports provided by the United Nations, UNSCdeb8 empowers crosscutting and customizable analyses of statements across all Council meetings, reporting years and UNSC seats. It represents a flexible and easy way to support existing methods of unpacking and studying UNSC dynamics.
UNSCdeb8 is a university-based non-profit project. It is primarily designed to facilitate corpus-driven social science research focussing on the UN Security Council (see
About for more information). It also makes UN Security Council discussions more transparent and accessible to a wider interested public, however, and may thus be a useful resource for diplomats, analysts, activists and other international affairs practitioners.