One Word: Self-Interest

"whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find ocassion for it."-Niccolo Machiavelli

This quote, when applied to the global community, sums up the reality of world politics. The idea that soveriegn nations can agree on global standars is, simply put, impossible Although we would all like to live in a utopian society where everyone has a great education and no one worries about crime or war, we must live realistically. Each country in this world has different resources, different cultures, and different social values. As we demonstrated in class on Tuesday, animosity between nations is a natural occurance. It didn't take very long at all before we had chaos in the room. This ordeal was precipiated by the different resoures and interests of the "states" in the room.

I find the Kyoto protocol to be a good modern day example of how nations view world issues. A good summary of the agrement can be found here: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~danov20d/site/history.htm. The idea was kicked around in 1992 but did not come into being until '97. This in itself demonstrates how tough it is to get countries to agree on world issues. In fact, certain major countries such as the United States and Australia have refused to ratify the document, sighting the fear of economic troubles. In a 2001 press release, President Bush stated that, "...I oppose the Kyoto Protocol because it exempts 80 percent of the world, including major population centers such as China and India, from compliance, and would cause serious harm to the U.S. economy." So we refuse to join in the fight just because no one else is? That seems a bit selfish. If I may "pop" back into the classroom metaphor, that would be like me promising to give a chair to a poorer nation only to decide later that I'd really ought to just keep it. However, it is the reality of world politics. Every country wants to be powerful and does not want to jeopordize it's future to help others. Although the Kyoto Protocol has good intentions, it is in many ways a political disaster. With many countries exempted from the requirement and others withdrawing, it cannot be effective.

There are many other examples of the difficulties faced by individual states. Take for instance the situation in Iraq. The United States invaded a country, adamantly ignoring the advice and information of the UN. This kind of self-interest will never lead to unity. We can agree on international law and policies but as we saw with the Abu Ghraib situation, even these rules can be broken. As long as countries are competing in the global economy there will not be agreement. In North Korea people are starving, but the world community is too concerned with pressuring Kim Jong Il to help where it is really needed.

Hopefully there will come a time when individual interests can be put aside and we can all "get along". Until then, we will just have to try our best to navigate the great divide between those who have and those who have not.