A radical reform proposal for the United Nations

Furthermore, this reform will likely have many beneficial side-effects. For example, it will be possible to pick a Secretary-General from among the members in the UN Senate. Consequently, the process of selecting a new Secretary-General will be relatively open and give the office holder much greater political leverage to strengthen the capabilities of the United Nations.

In addition, a UN Senate would effectively side-step the illegitimate and anachronistic Security Council and the moribund General Assembly. The Secretariat would find new life as a reformed global Public Service answerable directly to the Senate. Suddenly, we would be able to differentiate between democratic and non-democratic regimes, allowing us to put a stop to the outrageous situation where the likes of Libya, Syria and Sudan can gain a seat on human rights committees.

It would be possible to set minimum standards for what constitutes a democratically elected government, including universal suffrage, secret ballots and independent monitoring. Importantly, it will provide rhetorical ammunition to progressives living in authoritarian states. No longer forced into a defensive position by having to explain the non-democratic actions of democratic states, these people will have a positive democratic story to tell their fellow citizens: elect our representative and we will be able to join the world community as democratic equals.

As mentioned, there are a number of issues associated with this reform. Dealing with the two most obvious; I can easily imagine critics raising concerns about a “world government” that may undermine the liberties that we (that is, we westerners) enjoy. This is unlikely to occur since powerful national governments will continue to exist and be quick to counter any overreach.

A second criticism may be that the reform isn't democratic “enough”, since these individuals will be representing vastly different numbers of people. This is a fair criticism, however, once a UN Senate is established, further reforms will be possible - if required - such that the composition of the Senate may more accurately reflect the distribution of people.

Democratic reform is essential if we supporters of the United Nations wish to strengthen and improve the capabilities of the organisation. Replacing selected ambassadors with elected representatives is an ambitious but entirely feasible first step in the process.