At 11:52 PM 10/21/2002 +0200 J. van Baardwijk wrote:
>That depends on how you define "democracy". When you use its literal
>meaning ("the people decide"), then the UN is indeed not a democracy. When
>you use the word in the way it is more commonly used, however ("the
>majority decides"), then the UN *is* a democracy.
Actually, the majority does not decide in the UNSC. First, decisions
require a minimum of 9 out of 15 members. Secondly, many decisions with
the support of 14-1 are not taken by the UNSC.
>But then, if you use the literal meaning, every democratic country in the
>world could be considered "not a democracy". After all, when a government
>wants a vote on something, it does not go and ask every single citizen for
>his/her opinion; it asks the chosen representatives of those citizens for
>their opinion.
QED: The US is not abandoning democratic principles if it does not receive
the support of the UN, since the US has never operated solely on democratic
principles, it operates on republican principles. One core republican
principle is that only sub-entites which are either republican or
democratic can participate in decision of the larger whole. For example,
States must have a republican form of government in order to join the
United States. Therfore, if the USA were to stick t its core principles
on this issue, it would insist that the decision on Iraq be referred to an
international organization that only admits republican or democratic member
nations.
JDG
_______________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
People everywhere want to say what they think; choose who will govern
them; worship as they please; educate their children -- male and female;
own property; and enjoy the benefits of their labor. These values of
freedom are right and true for every person, in every society -- and the
duty of protecting these values against their enemies is the common
calling of freedom-loving people across the globe and across the ages.
-US National Security Policy, 2002
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