I’ve been thinking about this for the past few days, and it struck me: what if changing the way the UN votes could potentially change all the violence and aggression we notice in many parts of the world? I think a lot of it stems from the notion that they believe there is “no other way out” but to use force. This includes what China is doing at the moment.
What if, in a global convention where international laws are made, countries have votes assigned as per their economic strength, which is a reflector of their military prowess? This way, they’d be able to shape international laws the way they desire — but through negotiation, not force.
Let’s suppose, a total of 1,001 vote parts are present. As the US produces 25% of the global GDP, they would receive 250 vote parts, and as Japan creates 5%, they would receive 50 vote parts. Likewise, there may be situations wherein some nations are so small in the economy that they may not get a single vote part. But the minimum threshold should be one.
There would be huge implications of these changes. The power to make international laws — currently resting with the US, Europe and the Pacific — would decline under such a system. These regions would still make it to a 50% vote share mark, yet, we can expect this to diminish over time. The aim of this system is not that I wanted to see this, but to add certain power and rationale to the foundations of the way voting is currently done.
The system has got to feel fair to everybody, and it must be so logical that only fools may think of challenging the reason behind the way voting is done. Yes, under these circumstances, there may be a day when China would successfully pass into law its claim over the South China Sea, but things could turn the other way as well.
The power of this system is that it would closely knit the United States, EU and the Pacific region, and would give an incentive to strengthen relations based on values, as it’s impossible to not appeal to common ideals, under the mechanism, with Japan and Korea. There may be opportunities for some small but growing powers to make themselves leaders and join the side of fairness and justice. Such nations could include Nigeria, Indonesia, India, Brazil and the ASEAN group.
The power of this call to unity will be felt deeply and widely if the UN votes in this manner. Lastly, I think things should change because it’s absolute lunacy that all nations get only one vote. For instance, China, Trinidad and Tobago get equal vote share! Also, the UN Security Council needs to be abolished as I think no country special enough to get a veto in global affairs.