Bono would be disappointed.

World Politics Question #2
Should powerful countries look after the interests of less-powerful countries? In other words, is there any particular obligation to others associated with being a powerful country?
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Yes.



…If you were expecting more, you aren’t getting it. I, as a representative of a powerful country, am not required to divulge my reasoning, for that could lead to terrorists attacking my country.


On a less sarcastic basis, yes, “powerful” countries should look after the interests of less-“powerful” countries. Not necessarily out of any idea of goodwill and caring about that country and the people within it, but simply that there are more benefits to helping countries (of aid, of support, of business, of complete government overhauls through the idea of invasion [last one is a bit sarcastic]) than practicing isolationist policies. Let’s take the example of the U.S. (because I live here): if the U.S. doesn’t offer aid/help/support to other countries, particularly countries (or factions within the countries) that support democracy, freedom, other ideals of a Western nation, then the rest of the world, developed and developing alike, look upon the U.S. as a country that doesn’t care about anyone but itself. This leads to a negative image of the U.S., and a downturn in U.S. trade and economy, and in general makes everyone upset. Simply, from a world perspective, nations that are granted with a strong economy, strong military, strong not-dying-thanks-to-human-rights-violations-malnutrition-guerilla-warfare-lack-of-health-care state, need to look after /take interest in nations that aren’t granted with the above because it will damage a nation’s reputation (thus credibility and authority).

On an internal basis, most countries that profess “power” within the world spectrum have citizens who can access the news and thus know something (maybe not a lot, but something) about what’s going on in the globe-o-sphere. People, while being stupid, are not always callous, and thus, for the vast majority, want their home nation to help/support other nations, because people “care” about other people, especially people who don’t have all the advantages we have and want that warm fuzzy feeling when their nation does good. On top of that, celebrities, in their need to do something meaningful with their lives, convince the average person that a) their government is horrible if it doesn’t help other nations b) they are horrible if they don’t tell their government a) and c) the movie comes out December 15th. Now, if a government is isolationist, the people within the nation become discontent, unhappy and whiny, meaning they could make more choices based on emotions instead of logic and then everyone else is unhappy as well.

While taking care of one's own nation is a government's first priority, that also means that a sound nation is a content nation, and a nation filled with people who think the government is selfish (even if it is selfish in the name of its people) aren't content. So, the government must sacrifice resources to be used towards its own in order to satisfy its own.

Alright, let’s summarize: “Powerful” nations (going with developed as having power) should help nations that are less “powerful” because, internationally, people don’t like isolationist nations, and that hurts the economy, and nationally, people don’t like governments that don’t like celebrities that aren’t “caring”, thus hurting the stability of the country. So, to make people happy (not everyone, just in general), it is in the best interests of a nation to be globally involved and helpful.

Besides, when we spend too much time with ourselves, we start doing/believing/practicing weird stuff.