The Foreign Service Journal, April 2004

percent), but displace China and Russia (1.5 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively). France (6.5 percent) and the U.K. (5.6 percent) would remain as permanent members, at least until the European Union has expanded and evolved sufficiently to assume a “European” seat in place of individual countries. (This would be quite some time in the future, of course.) Other seats would continue to rotate, as at present, to provide some geographic and cultural bal- ance. This reform would make the Council more accurately reflect true political and economic heft, though it would obviously be unacceptable to the present veto-holders who would be displaced. But as long as the pre- sent format exists, the political reality is the Security Council will be side- lined when it comes to those issues of international peace and security that lack a strong consensus for action in the international community. For that reason, I believe the time has come to renew efforts to fix this and other flaws. The other major organ, the General Assembly, has its own prob- lems. Monaco, with a tiny population and an area equivalent to the Mall in Washington, D.C., has the same voice and vote as, say, India — a democracy with a population approaching a bil- lion. Another weakening factor is the reality that many of its member gov- ernments do not really represent their own peoples. Last year Freedom House gave 85 of the 191 U.N. mem- bers the “free” rating that indicates full democracy. Of the remaining 106, 46 were in the “not free” catego- ry accorded authoritarian govern- ments; the remaining 60 were consid- ered only “partly free.” It is difficult for democracies like our own to accept that countries whose govern- ments do not represent and are not accountable to their populations deserve an equal voice with those that do. I believe this is one main reason the General Assembly has gradually lost its effectiveness. In addition, the Assembly’s resolu- tions lack force or authority. Its so- called “debates” lack focus or disci- pline, and call to mind the observation A P R I L 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 53 The United Nations has gradually evolved over time, and is probably going to continue to do so.