the world’s increasing population without harming the
environment. the short run, such hybrid crops can indirectly cause environmental problems. The farmer using hybrid seed, which is expensive, must buy new seed each year because the seed cannot be saved to plant the following year’s crops. Farmers using hybrid seeds in what once was the richest part of India went bankrupt. As a result, fertile lands lay idle and untilled, resulting in droughts and desertification.
sample motions:
This House believes that environmental concerns should always take precedence over economic development in both the First and Third Worlds.
This House believes that economic growth, even at the expense of some environmental degradation, is justified by the need to feed the rising world population.
Web Links:
Center for International Environmental Law. <http://www.ciel.org> Review of major international environmental agreements as •
well as information on the impact of globalization and free trade on sustainable development.
International Institute for Sustainable Development. <http://www.iisd.org> Describes the institute’s activities and offers reports •
and research materials on different aspects of sustainable development.
United Nations Environment Programme: Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics. <http://www.uneptie.org> Pres- •
ents information on UN programs associated with sustainable development.
Further reading:
Cherni, Judith A. Economic Growth Versus the Environment: The Politics of Wealth, Health and Air Pollution. Palgrave, 2002. Cole, Matthew A. Trade Liberalisation, Economic Growth and the Environment. Edward Elgar, 2000.
Lomborg, Bjorn. The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
eConomIC sAnCtIons vs. engAgement
Economic sanctions are one of the most controversial ways whereby the international community seeks to influence a nation’s internal policy and democratize countries. Sanctions helped end apartheid in South Africa, but the almost 50-year-old US embargo of Cuba has not brought down its communist government. China has a terrible human rights record, nevertheless sanctions have not been imposed on it. The question of whether to use trade to effect change is a subject of continuing debate.
Pros
Cons
Free trade brings about democratization in three ways: It permits a flow of information from Western countries; it raises a nation’s standard of living; and it facilitates the growth of a middle class. These factors generate internal
Most dictatorial oligarchies welcome free trade as it usually increases their wealth. The West no longer has any lever- age over them once they have been accepted into the free trade arena. Although the international community chose
Pros Cons
pressure and consequent political change—economic freedom leads to political freedom. Free trade helped bring about the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe and is beginning to increase freedoms in China. When the United States linked most favored nation (MFN) status to improvements in human rights, China made only token gestures to improve its rights record to maintain MFN status. Deep structural changes in human rights in any country come only with unlimited free trade.
not to impose sanctions on China because it is a valuable economic and strategic partner, trade, specifically MFN status, can still be used to force China to improve human rights. Believing that free trade can lead to democratiza- tion is naïve. Governments against which sanctions are imposed will not permit the growth of a middle class or let wealth filter down to the people. In reality free trade has worsened Chinese living standards by putting domes- tic industries out of business and forcing people to work for multinational corporations that pay little.
Sanctions are ineffective. For example, France and Russia currently have openly breached international sanctions against Iraq because of their complete failure. Sanctions against Cuba, Haiti, and Burma have also proved useless because many nations do not recognize them. In addi- tion, once sanctions are in place, the government of the country being sanctioned keeps all available resources, ensuring that sanctions adversely affect only the people. In the case of Iraq, sanctions led to terrible suffering.
Sanctions are effective as a long-term tool. They worked in South Africa and they worked in the former Rhode- sia. Granted, they can lead to mass suffering of the very people they are designed to help, as they did to the black population of South Africa. However, Nelson Mandela has said that the suffering was worthwhile because it helped end apartheid.
Sanctions block the flow of outside information into a country, thus permitting dictators to use propaganda to strengthen their own position. People cannot believe such propaganda is false when there are no competing external claims.
Sanctions send a strong message to the people of a coun- try that the Western world will not tolerate an oppressive regime.
sample motions:
This House would put trade relations above human rights. This House believes in free trade.
This House would make money not war.
This House would engage, not estrange, nondemocratic nations.
Web Links:
Are Economic Sanctions Effective Without the Threat of Military Intervention? <http://www.takingitglobal.org/express/ •
panorama/article.html?ContentID=2454> Examines the effectiveness of economic sanctions.
Cato Institute Center for Trade Policy Studies. <http://www.freetrade.org> Site, advocating free trade, includes essays on China, •
the Cuban embargo, and the failure of unilateral US sanctions.
USA*Engage. <http://usaengage.org> Information on current US sanctions and potential sanctions by a coalition of American •
businesses, trade associations, and agriculture groups that oppose unilateral US action.
Further reading:
Askari, Hossein G., John Forrer, Hildy Teegen, and Jiawen Yang. Case Studies of U.S. Economic Sanctions: The Chinese, Cuban, and
Iranian Experience. Praeger, 2003.
Krustev, Valentin. Bargaining and Economic Coercion: The Use and Effectiveness of Sanctions. VDM Verlag, 2008. Von Sponeck, H.C. A Different Kind of War: The UN Sanction Regime in Iraq. Berghahn Books, 2006.
Electoral College, Abolition of |87
eLeCtorAL CoLLege, ABoLItIon oF
The presidential election of 2000 gave new prominence to the Electoral College. Although Al Gore received more popular votes than George W. Bush, Bush won the election because his victory in Florida gave him a majority of elec- toral votes. To some observers, this outcome demonstrated clearly that the Electoral College should be abolished. They feel it is an anachronism that has outlived its usefulness. To others, however, the result demonstrated that the Electoral College is both good and necessary, and that the system had worked as it was designed to do.
Pros
Cons
The president should be the person chosen by the great- est number of Americans, via the popular vote. The Electoral College violates this mandate in principle and sometimes in practice.
The Electoral College ensures that the person elected president has broad support throughout the country. Without the college, candidates could win by appealing only to heavily populated urban areas.
The Electoral College was established at a time when the people were not trusted to choose wisely; senators, too, were initially not chosen by popular vote. The system should be changed to trust the wisdom of the American people.
The principle behind the Electoral College is similar to the principle that determines the composition of the Senate, wherein every state is deemed equal, no matter its size. The college is an integral part of the system of federalism, which gives the states distinct and important rights.
The Electoral College system gives greater weight to votes cast in lightly populated states. The result is that a vote cast for the president by a New Yorker counts less than a vote cast by a North Dakotan; this inequality is inherently unfair.
The Electoral College forces candidates to campaign broadly throughout the country to gain the electoral votes of as many states as possible. If it is eliminated, candidates will spend all their time campaigning in the states with the greatest number of voters and ignore smaller states.
The lightly populated states that are privileged by the Electoral College system are overwhelmingly white. In effect, the system discounts the worth of votes cast by minorities living in urban areas and exacerbates the racial imbalance of power in the country.
Minority voters could be safely ignored by candidates in a national election that depended only on receiving a popular majority. But because these voters can determine who wins a majority—and the electoral votes—in a given state, their influence is significant in the present system. The current winner-take-all system effectively eliminates
third-party candidates, as they cannot win enough Elec- toral College votes to gain office. The result? The elec- toral process is predisposed to the status quo, and change and progress are discouraged.
Because no candidate can win the presidency without an absolute majority of electoral votes, the Electoral College promotes the strength of the two-party system and that system promotes the political stability of the country. Too much latitude is given to electors in the present
system; in some states, electors are not required to cast their votes for the candidates who have won the popular vote in their states. Electors should not have the power to disregard the will of the people.
The Constitution designed the US government to include a series of checks and balances, and the Electoral College is part of that system. The Electoral College is meant to limit the “tyranny of the majority” that is pos- sible in unrestrained democracy.
sample motions:
This House supports the abolition of the Electoral College. This House values the will of the people over the rights of the states.
Web Links:
Center for Voting and Democracy. <http://www.fairvote.org/op_eds/electoral_college.htm> Web site argues for abolition of the •
Electoral College and has news items as well as links to other sites.
The Electoral College. <http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/index.html> US government Web site offering •
a thorough explanation of how the Electoral College functions.
In Defense of the Electoral College. <http://www.cato.org/dailys/11-10-00.html> Think-tank Web site argues in favor of retain- •
ing the Electoral College.
Further reading:
Bennett, Robert W. Taming the Electoral College. Stanford University Press, 2006. Gregg, Gary L. Securing Democracy: Why We Have an Electoral College. ISI Books, 2001.
Schumaker, Paul D., and Burdett A. Loomis, eds. Choosing a President: The Electoral College and Beyond. CQ Press, 2002.