International Politics
Much of written history displays the conquests of the most powerful nations over less powerful ones. This has led to ever-changing territories as nations have been conquered or have conquered others and the most powerful nations or alliances of nations hold the ultimate authority. Especially in the past century, however, there has not been one major world power but many powerful nation-states capable of dominating the smaller nation-states around them. Before World War One, a balance of power (in Europe at least) system kept nations from unleashing their power and dominance on less powerful nations. As this system collapsed after the war, the League of Nations was set up as a forum to end disputes peacefully. This system too collapsed upon the start of World War Two and after the war was resolved great debates began to try and establish a better form of resolving conflicts via peaceful means. What emerged is the United Nations, a modern forum that has attempted to keep the world at peace for over fifty years now. Yet there has been numerous devastating wars during the last fifty years which the UN has not been able to resolve. What I'm trying make clear here is that we cannot allow states to rule with ultimate state authority fo
Once analyzed, my views regarding this statement take some aspects from both the idealist and realist schools of thought. Their vision is that the international community must make their aim to prevent future wars and this can be accomplished by eliminating the environment that makes people evil, namely their institutions, government and basic structures. Perhaps, as an international community we need to reform and give more power to the United Nations in order to ensure justice and morality in its conduct and apply it more on a worldly basis instead of using it primarily for industrialized nations. There is also the concern of a countries own well being as it may become over-run with the refugees it was trying to liberate and/or incite an unfavorable self-image in the foreign country it was trying to help. For example, when a single country intervenes in a foreign countries affairs and "plays the role of moral judge and moral policeman, it will risk the maximum of distortion and hypocrisy - the maximum of internal backlash if it fails. Idealists assume that human nature is basically good and man has natural tendencies to assist, cooperate, and care about his fellow beings. 7 was established in the United Nations Charter, giving the UN admissible rights to intervene in foreign affairs, mainly if the state concerned gives its consent, if an internal conflict assumes an international dimension recognized by external sponsors and internal factions or if a state denounces the rights of its citizens as stated by the UN Commission on Human Rights. Finally when dealing with individual nations there is always the threat of a double standard, such as proclaiming 'humanitarian abuses' in a foreign state but then using its power solely for economical/political reasons. r it seems that it is part of our human nature, when we are more powerful than others, to impose our authority on them for self-beneficial reasons. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1981. 7 would be welcomed by the activist school, represented by many of the industrialized nations, while the status quo school would be deeply suspicious of any interpretations of the article - resembling the realist school - which is favored by most of the developing states. Along with the moral questions raised, the UN itself has only a limited capacity to handle the growing number of requests made on it. Keeping the Peace in the Post-Cold War Era: Strengthening Multilateral Peacekeeping. Therefore the best way to analyze the former statement is to see how institutions such as the UN and foreign states intervention in foreign countries has resulted and see if a formidable conclusion cannot be made.
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