Kalistani Major History

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FM Recalls Observer in Whale Island
"World Congress Reform is not happening," said Dame DuMont
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
May 1, 5540


Dame Jacqueline DuMont speaking at Kaliburg Polytechnic on WC Reform

The Kalistani Observer to the Bettencourt Conference, Dame Catherine Adams, who serves as personal Secretary to His Imperial Majesty's Foreign Minister, Dame Jacqueline DuMont, has been recalled to Kalistan after it became clear that the conference was not interested in making any real reform to the structure of the International Debating Society. FM DuMont announced the recall in a policy speech at Kaliburg Polytechnic, where she was the invited lecturer to the Spring Research Symposium. The remarks were made during a discussion on the failure of liberal internationalism as a force for peace.

"Kalistan has long stood apart from THE major international deliberative body known as the World Congress since its inception," said Dame DuMont, recounting a bit of history. "And it is not for the reasons most people think: In fact, Kaiistan would like a world body capable of resolving disputes between states, and I actually mean bringing permanent settlement to those disputes, without resort to war. The WC could have been this body, but instead, it developed as a vehicle for great powers to promote their interests under the thin cloak of international legitimacy, through the security council. As long as that body remains in place, remains the nearly exclusive province of the same war making powers as have ever dominated it, and commits the rest of the world through collective security treaties to support great power interests globally, Kalistan can not, will not be a party to it. We had hoped this conference would produce serious reform, but its clear that reform of the World Congress is not happening."

The Foreign Minister pointed out that Kalistan's Observer was invited to comment, and actually made a proposal which would have addressed a number of Kalistan's concerns with the World Congress, while increasing both democracy within the body, and legitimacy of the body's resolutions by balancing the overwhelming power of the large nations of the world with the votes of the General Assembly. "The Proposal was acknowledged by a handful of nations, but was not seriously entertained, as the Convenor declared Security Council reform outside the purview of this conference," said Dame DuMont. At that point, Dame Adams thanked the conference for the opportunity to make Kalistan's views heard, and then acted on orders to report back to the Foreign Ministry in Kaliburg.

"The Principles of Non Alignment and the principles of Global Realism masquerading as liberal internationalism in the World Congress are fundamentally incompatible," said Dame DuMont before moving back to the main topics of the Speech. "You can't say you are non-aligned, and then participate in a body which serves a single purpose, and that is to act as a deliberative body that in practice serves as a vehicle for legitimation of Great Power Interests. If they cared about including the world, they would at least get rid of the veto on the Security Council and have a mechanism that permits GA resolutions to become binding without security council action or the ability to veto them. As it is, all nations except one can decide on a course of action and then one great power sitting on the security Council can veto any effort to bring that measure into the Security Council, and the measure dies. One nation outvotes the world. How could Kalistan ever be a part of such a thing? If we were offered a seat on that council, we would feel dirty accepting it."

Policy analysts admitted that 1) there never was a serious push for genuine reform in the WC, and Kalistan's presence as a representative of the NAM was purely demonstrative, and 2) there was never any serious consideration within Kalistani foreign policy circles of Kalistan changing its position on the World Congress. "Kalistan will never join the WC as long as it remains a collective security organization," said Kalistani policy expert Alice Guerrera. "The fact that it is incapable of maintaining peace when countries, including those sitting on the security council have made up their mind to go to war, merely gives Kalistani critics of the body more ammunition to use against it when criticizing it. The real problem with it is that it can drag minor powers into major powers' wars, but doesn't create the same pressure on major powers. Kalistan will never support something like that, even if the Honorable Foreign Minister hinted that something like that might be being considered."