The Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, has espoused a proposal put forward by specialists in international relations close to the Democratic Party, such as John Ikenberry and Anne-Marie Slaughter. The proposal is to set up a new international organization that can accept as members only countries with a democratic government, a kind of League of Democracies (sometimes also called a Concert of Democracies). Senator McCain did not go into detail concerning the characteristics this institution would have to have. He merely stated that “it could act where the UN fails to act."

 

Is any need felt for a new intergovernmental organization? Those who propose it are thinking of cases in which the democratic countries feel the need to use force and the Security Council is not in a position to approve a resolution owing to the opposition of China or Russia. In such a situation, it might prove useful to ensure legitimacy through the establishment of an institution comprising only democratic countries. While there is no lack of intergovernmental institutions, none of the existing ones seem to be sufficiently effective: NATO is restricted to the countries on both shores of the Atlantic and does not include important countries like Japan and Australia, while the G7 comprises only a small number of governments.