Can a nation be removed from the U.N. security council?
If so, how?
In the 15-member UN Security Council, there are five permanent members:
U.S.A., France, China, (whatever the ex-Soviet Union is now called), and the U.K.
The remaining 10 members are elected by the general assembly for two-year terms.
So, yes, there is a regular process to bring in and out 10 members of the security council. But the five permanent members are, well, permanent.
Which category of security council members were you referring to?
http://www.un.org/Docs/scinfo.htm
(And do you want to kick out France? I ask only because there’s been a lot of France-bashing on the SDMB lately … 
(I see from my URL cite that the ex-USSR is called the Russian Federation.)
Presumably, the “permanent” members are just that. I can’t imagine that they could be removed unless that nation agreed to it.
It’s probably a bit short-sighted to kick out a permanent member because you disagree with them. During the entire history of the UN, I would think that each of the permanent members has wanted to give one of its own the boot.
BobT: you are assuming that I want to kick someone out?
Viva La France! 
If I were king of the world for an hour, I might kick them out, but the whole issue does raise the question of just what to do when a nation on the permanent security council borders on a rogue nation (not calling France rogue, just going after what ifs)
So, permanent security council privelages are permanent? Just a bit scary to me.
Which poses an interesting question.
How did the Russian Federation get to be permanent ?
It was the Soviet Union (a group of 15-17 republics) which was the permanent member. How did they decide to pass on that seat onto Russia after the breakup ?
Presumably, removing any members from the Security Council would require a vote of a majority of the Security Council. And the 5 permanent members each have veto power over any resolutions.
So there is no practical way to remove a permanent member. Even if they change status. The status change would have to be voted on by the Security Council…
There is some question as to whether a majority vote by the entire membership might supercede the authority of the Security Council, but AFAIK it’s never even been tried.
Well, in a sense, Taiwan removed itself from a position as a permenent member of the Security Council. Of course, it held that position in its role as the de jure government of China, and as more and more countries dropped recognition of Taiwan and recognized mainland China, along with the growing realization that the KMT was never going to restablish itself on the mainland, that role became increasingly untenable. In 1971 the Taiwanese government voluntarily gave up its seat, but my understanding is that it did so in anticipation of a UN ruling that the communist government in Beijing was the legitimate ruler of China (and thus entitled to China’s seat on the Security Council). I’ve never understood why Taiwan wouldn’t have been able to veto such a resolution though.
The only way I can think of is for the General Assembly to kick them out of the entire UN. This does not require the approval of the Security Council (I think), but it requires - what? Two thirds of the GA? Three quarters?
Russia was recognized by pretty much every country as the successor to the Soviet Union for the purposes of all international agreements.
It makes things a lot easier that way.
The present Chinese government was recognized by the UN as the official representative of that country on October 25, 1971 after a vote of 76-35 (with 17 abstentions) in the General Assembly.
The resolution was sponsored by Albania, Algeria, Ceylon, Congo, Cuba, Equitorial Guinea, Guinea, Iraq, Mali, Mauritania, Nepal, Pakistan, Rumania, Somalia, South Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Tanzania, Yemen, Yugoslavia, and Zambia.
The U.S. tried to make the issue subject to a 2/3 vote, but that failed by 4 votes.
The US ambassador to the UN at the time, one George HW Bush, accused 7 nations of reneging on a promise to make the vote 2/3. Those were Belgium, Cyprus, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Tunisia, and Trinidad-Tobago.
Once the 2/3 limit was off, more countries found it easier to vote to boot out Taiwan.
Once Taiwan knew it was going to lose, its representatives walked out.
Nixon was quite upset at the vote and was perturbed that some of the delegates to the General Assembly were literally dancing in the aisles after the vote.
Apparently, he got over it.
Look for yourself.
http://www.un.org/Overview/Charter/chapter2.html
http://www.un.org/Overview/Charter/chapter5.html
It appears that the only mechanism for removal of a permanent member is suspension from the UN as a whole.
And since I bothered looking it up, the resolution:
Resolution 2759, passed October 25, 1971
Hal
BTW, it’s a lot easier to reject the credentials of a country’s representative than it is to throw out the country itself.
Reported.