At the founding of the UN in San Francisco in 1945, most of the 51 states present accepted the idea of minimal governance. But the five victors of the Second World War opposed it because they did not want to be confronted with majority decisions taken by the Security Council that could run counter to their national interests.

For them, it was therefore not enough simply to be part of a restricted decision-making body. The powers (individually or collectively) also had to be able to control the course of their decisions. The solution was adopted at the Yalta Conference, which brought together Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin in January 1945. The idea was to differentiate between permanent and transitional members of the Council. The permanent members had to act unanimously for a decision to be adopted. Thus was born the famous right of veto.