Democratic Principles and Global Governance

Democratic Elections and Citizen Participation

1. The participation of citizens in government: To be truly democratic, elections should comply with the following principles:

• All citizens of age, regardless of gender or economic status, should be able to vote.
• All persons and parties who so wish must be able to stand for election, provided they respect the rules of democracy.
• All those who come forward may present their political programs freely without any kind of censorship.
• Elections must be held regularly; for example, in Spain, the general elections are held every four years.

The integrity and cleanliness of the results must be ensured. The parties that win elections should respect the parties they have defeated, while those who lose become the opposition, allowing them to criticize the government and propose alternatives freely.

International Relations and Global Diplomacy

2. The relations between the states: Normally, relations between states are peaceful. For example, states maintain trade with many countries to supply needed goods and sell their surplus. States sign treaties, covenants, and conventions. These are documents in which the state undertakes to perform certain actions on a particular subject. But sometimes conflicts arise between states:

• The most common are economic conflicts, which occur when the economic interests of two or more countries clash. For example, in 2005, millions of garments from China were blocked at the borders of the EU because they violated the treaties of trade in goods between China and the European Union.
• In the most serious cases, military conflict erupts. To resolve or avoid these, states require the help of other countries and attend international mediation.

The Role of the United Nations (UN)

3. The UN: The United Nations organization was founded in 1945. After the Second World War, states realized that it was necessary to create an organization to resolve conflicts peacefully. The UN has three main objectives:

• The defense of human rights, which is reflected in the adoption of documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• To maintain peace, the UN issues resolutions binding on the countries involved in conflict. If any of them do not comply with that resolution, the UN can impose sanctions, including the authorization of a military intervention. The UN also has the power to organize peacekeeping missions in countries in conflict.

Specialized UN Agencies

• FAO: Agriculture and nutrition.
• UNESCO: Education, science, and culture.
• WHO: Health.
• ILO: Work-related matters.