Small States' Interests and Support - Essay Example

The elimination of trade barriers was seen as helping all three nations increase the economic opportunities available in their homelands, but no nation had to give up sovereignty. The EU expects formerly sovereign nations to now bow to a new governmental body in Brussels. This sort of arrangement would meet with incredible resistance in America. The United Nations as it currently is constituted would not be an effective mechanism to decide which countries can use military intervention on their behalf.

The problem with the United Nations stems from the fact that the nations of the Security Council have most of the real power. Wealth, military might and resources are so incredibly concentrated in this handful of countries, that even if the rest of the world opposed an action by a Security Council state, there is little they really could do other than protest or make official statements denouncing the action. For the United Nations to be the safe keeper of the world’s militaries, there would need to be some mechanism to give small countries and equal voice with large, powerful countries (Sanders).

This is unlikely to happen because it would require great concessions on the parts of powerful nations.