Do powerful countries have any particular obligations towards less powerful countries? How about rich countries in relation to poorer ones?
Powerful countries do have certain obligations to less powerful countries. First and foremost they simply have to be aware at all times of what is going on in the countries of a less powerful standing. They should not necessarily act on what they observe, that must be determined by the situation specifically and cannot really be made into some general rule, but they need to at least be aware. If they have been paying attention to the other parts o the world, when the time comes where a decision has to be made whether or not to act, than the powerful country can at least make an informed decision because the have been monitoring whatever situation the entire time and know all the facts. Another aspect of the powerful countries obligation to help is, if a weak or struggling country asks for aid that the powerful state can reasonably provide than it is their responsibility to provide that support. I think that all of these situations translate similarly to the relationship between rich and poor countries. When the earthquake in Haiti occurred on January 12, 2010, and it became evident that the Haitian people were not going to be able to recover on their own many other nations provided disaster relieve and other forms of aid for the up to three million effected people as well as the government. The rich country should not decide whether or not to assist another country asking for help based on political alliances that might be in place, although that does happen sometimes.
Haiti Devastated by Massive Earthquake. BBC, 13 Jan. 2010. Web. 22 Aug. 2010.
I agree with you Ellen that countriess should monitore what is going on in the world. Secluding yourself is not going to help. I believe you are completly right that it is a countries choice whther or not to help. Although, I feel like power comes into play more. Countries like the US have more pressure on them because we are such a big power. that is where the obligation to help comes in. we feel so monitores by everyone else. In international, eyes we are the bad guys if we don't help. In the eyes of our people I feel like the government is torn. Some are in favor of helping others where some of us believe we need to be able to help ourselves first. With the whole Haiti earthquake we were helping a country in need because they needed the assistance and were seeking it. As for other countries we feel the need to impose. We feel that obligation. I support you though in the fact that we do not always need to act just monitore. It can't be left up to us to protect the whole world.
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