A/HRC/24/38 Zamora,50 Jean Ziegler51 and Howard Zinn.52 The diagnosis is clear, but changing the status quo has proven difficult, because often those who are elected do not govern, and those who do govern are not elected. IV. Obstacles 25. Numerous answers to the questionnaires, presentations at the consultations of 16 May and 6 June 2013, as well as communications received by the Independent Expert reveal dysfunctions in the democratic and equitable participation of stakeholders both at the international and the national levels. 26. Obstacles to genuine participation in decision–making in the international arena are many. A democratic and equitable international order entails a commitment to dialogue without preconditions in which all States and peoples have an opportunity to participate in global decision-making. War constitutes a breakdown of the friendly relations among States stipulated in General Assembly Resolution 2625, and a violation of Articles 2(3) and 2(4) of the United Nations Charter. The war industries in many countries and the enormous trade in weapons of all kinds generate corruption and fuel conflict throughout the world, since there is profit to be made. The existence of an immensely powerful military-industrial complex constitutes a danger to democracy, both internationally and domestically, because it follows its own logic and operates independently of popular participation. United States President Dwight Eisenhower signaled this danger on 17 January 1961.53 The huge proportion of budgets devoted to the activities of the armaments and other war industries leaves little space for the promotion of human rights. Moreover, in a time of weapons of mass destruction, there is no alternative to peaceful coexistence. Unilateralism is by its very nature incompatible with an international democratic order. In spite of the will of the international community and in violation of nearly unanimous General Assembly resolutions, some States continue to rely on unilateralism with total impunity. 27. The reality of economic, political and military imbalance leads to pressures on the weak that have little choice but to bend to various forms of coercion, threats, sanctions or carrot-and-stick practices. This asymmetry has led to the organization of the Non-Aligned movement, and numerous regional organizations (ALBA, CELAC, MERCOSUR, OIC), whose members do not always apply democratic rules, that attempt to balance out the overwhelming economic and political power of a few nations. 28. During the expert consultation convened by the Independent Expert in Geneva on 16 May 2013, participants expressed the hope for reform in the way decisions on global issues are taken, including decisions on war and peace, trade imbalances, commodity prices, financial markets, the environment and international peacekeeping. In the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, voting systems are not equitable insofar as the majority of the votes are given to developed country governments, which results in favouring the financial interests of elites at the expense of the disadvantaged. The reform of 50 51 52 53 10 See http://www.nlgazcentral.org/luis-roberto-zamora-bolanos-speaks-on-peace/, and http://www.peaceasahumanright.org/Peace/HOME.html. Destruction massive : Géopolitique de la faim, Paris, 2011. The Historic Unfulfilled Promise, New York 2012. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, pp. 1035-40.