Difference between revisions of "Compliance in the United Nations"

Latest revision as of 08:12, 10 July 2010

As members of the United Nations, we all have to address the issue of our nation's compliance or noncompliance with the resolutions passed by the body. Compliance occurs in a variety of ways, so keep in mind that not every nation will comply in the same way you do. More on that later.

The Nature of Compliance

If we're seriously going to address the issue of compliance, we have to get a sense of what compliance really is. Compliance has two general forms:

• The first form of compliance is complying with the spirit of the law. You can be in compliance with the spirit of the law by enacting the policy proposed by the resolution; you can be in noncompliance with the spirit of the law by only adhering to the letter of the law while disregarding or twisting the spirit of the law.
• The second form of compliance is complying with the letter of the law. You can't avoid this because all UN resolutions are made law in member nations via the Compliance Ministry, and you are thus in compliance in the sense that those laws are now part of your nation's recorded/written law.

Reasoning

A number of reasons have been cited by various nations for choosing either to comply or refrain from complying.

• One of the more common reasons that has been used by those choosing to comply and by those choosing not to comply are the stat changes that your nation experiences as a result of a resolution. Some believe that the stat changes are adversely affecting their nation, and as a result they might leave the UN when a resolution comes up that will cause a stat change that they don't like. Others believe that the stat changes are good for their nation and they choose to remain in the UN to take advantage of those stat changes.
• Another common reason used to justify compliance is the claim that the FAQ says that resolutions are binding on all member nations, and so compliance is a given; others claim that the FAQ does not justify compliance.
• One of the most prevalent reasons given by UN members for compliance or noncompliance is the impact compliance would have on roleplaying their nation. Some feel that the roleplayed consequences would be disasterous for their nation and choose to roleplay noncompliance for that reason. Others feel that there would be positive or interesting roleplay consequences and so they choose to roleplay compliance.

Game Mechanics

The frequently-cited changes that occur in your UN nation's stats after a resolution passes are the game mechanics form of compliance.

• These stat changes are related to the Category and Strength of the particular resolution that passed. If a Human Rights resolution passed, your Civil Rights rating increases. If it is a Strong resolution, then it will have a more marked effect on your stats than a Mild resolution would have. The same principle applies with other Category and Strength variables.
• These stat changes are often the basis for the frequent assertions that noncompliance is not possible, and it is often suggested that because of the connection that is generally made between game mechanics and roleplay that roleplayed noncompliance does not make any sense.
• These stat changes can be avoided by resigning from the UN before a resolution you don't like passes and rejoining after it passes. It is a hassle, but some feel it is worth it.

Gameplay

The less-used and infrequently discussed form of compliance is the answering of daily issues in accordance with UN resolutions. This can be done in cases where the topic of an issue has been addressed by the UN.

• It is quite possible to answer some of the daily issues to fit with passed resolutions. You can increase healthcare spending to simulate the implementation of "RBH Replacement" or let homosexuals get married in response to the resolutions that promoted legalization of such unions. I've only known one person to do it, but it is an option.
• It is also quite possible to answer some of the issue to contradict UN resolutions as a means of noncompliance. You can use your issues to eliminate healthcare spending or outlaw homosexual marriages in contavention of UN resolutions. A lot of people seem to practice this particular form of noncompliance.

Roleplay

The stuff that you write about how your nation is dealing with the passage of a resolution is roleplayed compliance (or noncompliance, as the case may be).

• Free-form roleplay is practiced on this site, so you can roleplay what you like and with whom you like. You can roleplay having massive spaceships or being sentient potatoes, and you can even roleplay outright noncompliance with UN resolutions. As with most things, some people are going to accept how you roleplay and some people are not. Even among “serious” roleplayers there are sometimes disagreements over whether or not a particular technology or strategy is appropriate roleplay. It happens. Just deal with these disagreements appropriately and you’ll be okay.
• Roleplay does not have to derive entirely from game mechanics. If your nation page says you’re a Conservative Democracy, you can still roleplay your nation as a Liberal Autocratic Socialist State (a fictional category, but a valid possible form of government). Just keep in mind that a lot of folks like other roleplayers to have a certain level of connection between the nation page and roleplay, even if it is not a perfect 1:1 correlation. For example, my nation is in the Anarchy category, so I roleplay it as an anarcho-socialist federation, a form of anarchy. Most people don’t bat an eye at this even though I don’t roleplay the other thing on my nation page about having order through biker gangs, or certain other really weird issue effects that don't fit with my roleplay.
• From a roleplay standpoint, resolutions are made law in all member nations. This leaves you with plenty of options for roleplayed noncompliance. Just like in real life countries, the law can be flouted, remain on the books but lack enforcement by the government, or it can be nullified by another part of your nation’s law. Maybe even a combination of those three approaches could be used. Just be aware of the possibility of other nations putting diplomatic pressure on you to comply. If you want to roleplay compliance with resolutions from the start, just have your Parliament (or whatever your legislative body is, if you have one) pass a law that reflects the text of the UN resolution, have your government enforce the law, or have your citizens voluntarily do whatever the resolution said. You can even roleplay that the UN Gnomes brought you into compliance. As with noncompliance, you have options, and they can be used in combination with one another.
• Sometimes there is a chance to roleplay taking advantage of the way UN resolutions are written and complying in such a way that a seemingly harmful resolution can turn out to very beneficial. For example, did the UN ban product X in member nations? That can be turned to your advantage if you get rid of all of your product X by selling it to other nations for exorbitant prices. That's just one example; be creative and innovative. There are many ways of making compliance interesting and fun so that it doesn't become all boring and mundane.
• The text of every resolution has certain qualities that allow nations to roleplay the use of loopholes to get around complying with the spirit of the law. For example, the resolution "UN Taxation Ban" only protects the citizens of UN member nations from taxation, which leaves us with a rather large loophole allowing the UN to tax people who don't have citizenship in their nation, corporations, and governments. Another example is the resolution "Abortion Rights", which because of its vagueness allows for all sorts of good/bad limitations on abortions by the determined member nation.