Each member of the United Nations has one vote in the General Assembly. Do you think this is fair?

Of course, this is a matter of opinion.  I will give you one argument for each side and you can decide which you find more convincing.

On the one hand, it is completely fair to have equal representation in the General Assembly.  Each country that joins the United Nations is a sovereign nation.  In a democracy, we think that everyone’s vote should count the same whether they are rich or poor.  If a “one person,...

Of course, this is a matter of opinion.  I will give you one argument for each side and you can decide which you find more convincing.

On the one hand, it is completely fair to have equal representation in the General Assembly.  Each country that joins the United Nations is a sovereign nation.  In a democracy, we think that everyone’s vote should count the same whether they are rich or poor.  If a “one person, one vote” rule makes sense in a democracy, then a “one country, one vote” rule makes sense in a group that is made up of sovereign nations.  If we do not give each country one vote, we have to decide which countries are more important and how much more important they are.  This would not be fair in a group that is supposed to allow all the nations of the world to have a say.

On the other hand, it is completely unfair to have equal representation in the General Assembly.  First of all, countries’ populations vary widely.  If our analogy is “one person, one vote,” then how can we let the Federated States of Micronesia, with about 103,000 inhabitants, have the same voting power as China, with over 1 billion people?  Second, the economic power of the various countries, along with how much they contribute to the UN, varies widely.  If one country gives much more money to the UN than another, shouldn’t it be able to have more of a say in what the UN does?

In essence, this comes down to how you define fairness.  Do you think the UN should treat all countries as individuals who should have one vote, or do you think the UN should count all individuals in the world as equal and give countries votes based on their populations?