Monday, October 12, 2009
Enforcement and Voting
As I sit here eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I am hit with an epiphany, I realize another problem with the United Nations. The United Nations is set up where every Country gets a vote and they all count the same. This is much like the United States Senate, where everyone is represented equally. What the United Nations is lacking is another branch where population, involvement, or size allows bigger Countries to have more of a say. Now, I do not think that the United Nations should model themselves after the United States, but it should do something to fix the problems it is facing. The United Nations decided against moving troops into Iraq and instead sent "troops" (people that can show badges, but cannot shoot guns) into Darfur. The United States sent troops into Iraq after the United Nations choose not to, and has not sent Troops into Darfur. There has been considerably more positive effects that have came out of Iraq than Darfur in the last couple of years if you ask me. The United Nations should try to structure itself so that they can impose whatever they set out to do. In 1985 a U.S Congressman said this about the United Nations, "Voting rights (in the UN) should be proportionate to the contribution of each member state to the budget of the UN and its specialised agencies." Now, I do not necessarily agree with this statement, but it shows that the United Nations has been getting retrogradations for change for over 20 years.
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"The United Nations should try to structure itself so that they can impose whatever they set out to do."
ReplyDeleteThis is quite a compelling statement; I understand that you believe the United Nations needs change and should be able to enforce their policies. However, this statement almost seems like one that advocates a dictatorial setup for the UN. To clarify, the word "impose" seems to make me think of a dictator imposing his will on his people. This makes me wonder: should the UN be given more power or means to enforce their power? Should they be allowed to impose their will on the unwilling nations? If so, could certain nations not swing the votes in their favor and reign over the unwilling? I am interested to hear your reply, and if I have misinterpreted then I am sorry.
I agree with your statement about how some other form of decision making should be implemented that takes into account population and other potential factors. Do you think the actual people of each country should have a say in UN matters such as instead of a representative from country voting, let the people in each country vote then that country's vote is dependent on the majority vote of the people? I know this would probably be a long and complicated process which might be inefficient and not really helpful, but what other ideas do you have for other forms of voting? Also how do you think the UN should enforce its policies, since policy enforcement seems to be the biggest problem with the UN according to what I've read.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for bringing this to my attention. In my statement, "The United Nations should try to structure itself so that they can impose whatever they set out to do." I meant that in a perfect world the United Nations would be able to enforce the rules and regulations they they set out. For instance, the United Nations voted against the United States getting involved in Iraq, but the United States did anyways (I do not want to start this argument, but at the time I supported fighting against Iraq). The United Nations sent weapons inspectors to Iraq in 2003, but because the United Nations has no power the Iraqi military told them they could not come in and inspect the weapons. The United Nations has been involved in the areas of and around Darfur. The United Nations wanted to end this Genocide, but does not have to power to do so.
ReplyDeleteMy statement meant that in a perfect world, the United Nations would be able to enforce their doctrines. My blog will later discuss how I think the United Nations should be structured to have this power.
Again, thank you both for your comments.
While I do agree that the United Nations should do something to make the number of votes each country gets proportional to the number of people from each country, I know that even if this happens, the voting system will not be perfect. IN my Finite Mathematics class, I studied the math behind voting and found out that no matter what method of voting you use, there will always be some kind of problem with it. There is even now a mathematical theorem with this. So even if we do make the number of votes proportional, there will still be problems possible.
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