Why Nations Cannot Agree

Question:  How do you get groups of  people to agree on anything?

When the group is small, it is possible to come to unanimous agreement by negotiating compromises.  As the group gets larger, unanimous agreement is no longer possible.  A fair process is needed, one that all members of the group have agreed upon in advance.

The fairest process ever devised is majority rule. People vote, and the majority decides. Of course,  it is not quite that simple. To be fair, majority rule must be tempered with protections for the rights of the minority.  However, the essential element is the rule of the majority.

Once the majority has decided,  everyone in the group must abide by its decision.  So there is an element of authority involved.  Individuals in the group are not free to just “walk away” from the decision of the majority.  Otherwise the decision is meaningless.

This is called democracy.  Without such a process, large groups of people cannot agree (in a fair way) to do anything.

Among the nations of the world, there is no such process in place for resolving disagreements. That is the reason we are not able to act on global problems:  trade, climate change, controlling the spread of nuclear weapons, terrorism.

The U.N. is a beginning, perhaps. It has a process, but no authority.  Countries are free to “walk away” from its decisions.  Therefore, its decisions are - in really important matters - meaningless.

We have seen a good example of  international paralysis in the recent G20 summit.  Nothing of substance, at all, was agreed upon.  This not the fault of the nations involved. In fact, it is the outcome we should expect, because the G20 is a rather large group of nations. 

Even if the G20 were able to reach a decision on trade, it would not be fair to the other nations who are not represented.   There are around 195 sovereign countries in the world today, most of them unrepresented in the G20. 

Is it possible for all 195 countries to agree on anything of substance, at all?  I believe the answer is "no" in today's world.   Even if the leaders could all agree on something, each nation would have to “sell” the idea to its constituents.

Without a world democratic government, there is no hope for meaningful action on the problems that could destroy our planet. This is a second "inconvenient truth", with apologies to Al Gore. We will have to face it sooner or later.