1999 E-mail Exchange with Sir Brian Urquhart: Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley

E-mail Exchange with Sir Brian Urquhart and students from Marin Academy High School, UC Berkeley's Model UN Program, and Boalt School of Law: March 1999 with Harry Kreisler

The UN and the United States

In the past, there have been complaints that the US has or wants too much power in the UN. On the other hand, some people say that the power the US has in the UN is simply a measure of the power that it has in the world in general. What do you think about the balance of power in the UN? Should powerful countries have more? Should more heavily populated countries have more? Should all countries be exactly equal? What should be done when one country (like the US) refuses to pay its dues or tries to apply pressure to the UN in some way?

Franzi D., Marin Academy High School

The balance of power in the UN is already arranged with the right of veto of the five permanent members of the Security Council. This means in effect that the Security Council cannot take an action which is objected to by the United States, Russia, Britain, France, or China. Obviously, the United States has a preeminent position in the United Nations by virtue of its power and wealth and also of the fact that it is the host country of the United Nations. It is inevitable that a very powerful country is sometimes resented by less powerful countries. In the case of the United States, there is justified resentment when the United States reneges on paying its dues to the United Nations and also when it ignores the United Nations in important matters. At the moment, regrettably, there is general feeling that Washington is against international organizations and is not playing its rightful part in making them work.

Since moving here from England, I have been intrigued by the cultural and political differences and the relative merits of each. It seems clear that the US does a much better job of enfranchising the average citizen (through the Bill of Rights, for example). However, I wonder if you would agree that this more democratic approach might also have a tendency to produce our rather fractious, single-issue oriented, and egocentric social discourse, making the development of principled policies even less likely?

Julian Biggs, Boalt School of Law, UC Berkeley

I am very reluctant to express an opinion on this very complex question. The enormous complexity of United States politics is determined by so many different factors. I am not at all sure that the enfranchising of the average citizen is necessarily the most significant of these.