Global Agreements; Mission Possible

Change happens in extremely small increments over many years especially when it is change for the better. You can effect change very quickly if you bomb a city but to build up a community takes many years and much hard work. It is the same way in the international community with global agreements, but rest assured it does happen. Despite the sovereign identity of each state, global agreements are possible though they might not seem in themselves to provide monumental change or any significant change at all.

According to http://www.un.org/members/list.shtml there are 192 member states in the United Nations who all “accept the obligations of the Charter” (Basic Facts About the United Nations). Subsequently each of these sovereign states has agreed to accept the obligations of the UN Charter and to act upon those obligations should it be necessary. This agreement exists between almost all nations of the world and therefore it could certainly be classified as a global agreement. Additionally the nations involved are truly sovereign because they have the right to run their internal affairs as they see fit and the United Nations cannot send troops into a state without the consent of that state which emphasizes that states are sovereign even within this international organization.

While this global agreement may not seem to make significant progress on its own as the UN has no enforcing power when it comes to the norms of international relations, it is an agreement between almost every nation on the planet and in that fact alone it has significant power. This agreement provides a common framework on which to build the future of international cooperation. Getting nations with such varying cultural identities to agree on anything is a monumental step upon which we can build further global agreement and cooperation. If all states see their identity within an international framework such as the United Nations disputes can be more easily resolved because states would be less likely to attack those they see as similar to themselves even in some small way. Even though not all states agree on every issue there are some fundamental issues on which all nations agree such as the need for clean water, a secure food supply, and individual security. Therefore basic global agreements are possible within the framework of national sovereignty possessed by each nation.

Erica Peterson