A/HRC/21/45 towards development, security and human rights for all‖, submitted to the 2005 World Summit, the Secretary-General proposed an enlargement of the Security Council to 24 members (A/59/2005, paras. 168-170). Such enlargement could theoretically be achieved through amendment of the Charter of the United Nations (pursuant to art. 108), provided that the permanent members of the Security Council agree. 35. Other observers have pointed out that the theoretical equality of the Westphalian State system is put to question by the realities of power politics, economic imbalance and adverse trade relationships. Indeed, the overwhelming economic power of some countries renders illusionary the aspirations of sovereignty of many poorer countries. In the United Nations, votes are often influenced by economic carrot-and-stick practices, and some weaker economies must bend to diplomatic and other forms of pressure. 36. In the above-mentioned report (A/59/2005, para. 32), the Secretary-General observed: In 2005, the development of a global partnership between rich and poor countries … needs to become a reality … Each developing country has primary responsibility for its own development—strengthening governance, combating corruption and putting in place the policies and investments to drive private-sector-led growth and maximize domestic resources available to fund national development strategies. Developed countries, on their side, undertake that developing countries which adopt transparent, credible and properly costed development strategies will receive the full support they need, in the form of increased development assistance, a more development-oriented trade system and wider and deeper debt relief. All of this has been promised but not delivered. That failure is measured in the rolls of the dead— and on it are written millions of new names each year. 37. Some observers have expressed concern over ―market fundamentalism‖, a philosophy that has much in common with social Darwinism and assumes that a laissezfaire policy is always the optimal solution. 17 ―Corporatocracy‖, unfair taxation, uncontrolled markets, currency speculation and runaway finance impact negatively on both democracy and equity. 38. It has long been noted that certain transnational corporations are wealthier and more powerful than some States. Strategies and guidelines must be developed to ensure that international business and trade promote rather than hinder a democratic and equitable international order. The new Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, established by the Human Rights Council at its seventeenth session (resolution 17/4), is tasked with promoting human rights in this sensitive area. The Independent Expert will consult with the members of the Working Group in order to cross-fertilize and avoid duplication. 39. Globalization raises many human rights issues 18 and it is in the interest of governments, transnational corporations and civil society that the opportunities offered by globalization be used to advance and not to restrict the enjoyment of human rights. The Independent Expert will explore the impact of globalization on the realization of an 17 18 14 See, inter alia, George Soros, The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means (PublicAffairs, 2008); Bill Moyers Journal, interview with George Soros, 10 October 2008, available from www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10102008/watch.html; Michael Sandel, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of the Markets (2012). See, inter alia, Dani Rodrik, The Globalization Paradox, Democracy and the Future of the World Economy (New York, 2011) and Sachs, The Price of Civilization (note 4 above).