Will Staton
Sep 3, 2018 · 2 min read

Hi Caleb, thanks for reading and replying. You’re certainly correct that multi-national orgs are falling out of favor and nationalism is the flavor of the moment, but I would then ask: 1) are those positive trends (my answer is no), and 2) if you agree, shouldn’t we be trying to counteract them somehow?

Personally I believe that the pendulum will swing back the other way at some point when extreme nationalism reveals the ultimate shortcomings it has always revealed. If and when this happens, I would hope we have a better version 2.0 of certain institutions, including but not limited to the UN. Perhaps you are correct that trying to implement such a proposal now would be counterproductive, but this could be a mid-term plan rather than an immediate change.

Now you might just believe that nationalism is the way to go, in which case we have a more serious disagreement, but if not I think it’s worth considering how to improve multinational organizations so that they are more inclusive and less prone to the shortcomings that foster the rise of nationalism. So to your point about the US, China, or Russia simply walking away, well theoretically any of those nations could do that now, and in fact all three routinely ignore the UN when it suits their interests. Is the solution to shrug and say well they can so they will? Or is it to establish a framework that incentivizes these nations to become more invested?

Maybe the UN is ultimately doomed, either because nationalism will win the day or because a better, as-yet-unimagined alternative will present itself, but within the current context of both global affairs and the composition of the UN, I think this proposal adds some incentives for cooperation. As I acknowledged in the piece, any of the major three nations (or any nation for that matter) could walk away at any time, but if more internationally significant nations were given power, it would be increasingly difficult for even the US or China to simply ignore the united will of a bloc with the military and economic clout my proposed council would have.

Thanks again for reading and replying. Happy to continue to engage.

    Will Staton

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    Career Educator. Aspiring Novelist. Author of “Through Fire and Flame: Into the New Inferno.”