3 ms·

How would you prevent a bad actor bribing a lot of small and poor countries that have no direct involvement (or even worse, is dependent on the bad actor) to vo

How would you prevent a bad actor bribing a lot of small and poor countries that have no direct involvement (or even worse, is dependent on the bad actor) to vote for them?

JoelJacobson 5y ago
Maybe by also changing the voting method to secret ballot? A poor country would then have no incentive to actually vote for the crazy idea, as they would not be able to present proof of their vote in favor of the crazy idea, and could therefore not collect the bribe. A bad actor would need to persuade the majority of nations to as a collective agree on the benefits of the bribe outweighing the consequences of the crazy idea. It would need to be a huge bribe, as without knowing who voted in favor, they would need to agree on splitting it among the majority of nations who promised they would vote in favor, and if the proposal passes, the bribe would be paid out. Hopefully a majority of the nations are not bribable. Can we think of some way to estimate how many nations we think would be bribable?
- blitzar 5y ago
  > Can we think of some way to estimate how many nations we think would be bribable? Start at 100% and subtract for each of the nations that will not act in the best interests of themselves. Rounding to the nearest meaningful number - 100% Foreign aid, trade deals, trade, soverign debt, technology exchange, defence contracts, visas, student exchange, sanctions, tourism, visits by heads of state, state dinners, world bank, imf, un missions, peace keepers the list goes on and on - all bribery, some with extra steps, some literally writing a cheque in exchange for something on the world stage.
  - 988747 5y ago
    Well, you can certainly substract Poland: we are hopelessly idealistic and only act in our self interest if we run out of other options :-)
    - blitzar 5y ago
      Luckily they have a winning geographic, geopolitical lottery ticket so there tend to be options and there is rarely a need for the hopeless idealism to rear its ugly head.
- oreally 5y ago
  Man, you have got some idealistic, naive thoughts that don't work irl. What if the poor country has it's lifelines supplied by the bad actor? They will act accordingly for their self interests. I highly suggest you read up on corruption in other countries and even on the IMF.

How would you prevent a bad actor bribing a lot of small and poor countries that have no direct involvement (or even worse, is dependent on the bad actor) to vote for them?

JoelJacobson 5y ago

Maybe by also changing the voting method to secret ballot? A poor country would then have no incentive to actually vote for the crazy idea, as they would not be able to present proof of their vote in favor of the crazy idea, and could therefore not collect the bribe. A bad actor would need to persuade the majority of nations to as a collective agree on the benefits of the bribe outweighing the consequences of the crazy idea. It would need to be a huge bribe, as without knowing who voted in favor, they would need to agree on splitting it among the majority of nations who promised they would vote in favor, and if the proposal passes, the bribe would be paid out. Hopefully a majority of the nations are not bribable. Can we think of some way to estimate how many nations we think would be bribable?

blitzar 5y ago
> Can we think of some way to estimate how many nations we think would be bribable? Start at 100% and subtract for each of the nations that will not act in the best interests of themselves. Rounding to the nearest meaningful number - 100% Foreign aid, trade deals, trade, soverign debt, technology exchange, defence contracts, visas, student exchange, sanctions, tourism, visits by heads of state, state dinners, world bank, imf, un missions, peace keepers the list goes on and on - all bribery, some with extra steps, some literally writing a cheque in exchange for something on the world stage.
- 988747 5y ago
  Well, you can certainly substract Poland: we are hopelessly idealistic and only act in our self interest if we run out of other options :-)
  - blitzar 5y ago
    Luckily they have a winning geographic, geopolitical lottery ticket so there tend to be options and there is rarely a need for the hopeless idealism to rear its ugly head.
oreally 5y ago
Man, you have got some idealistic, naive thoughts that don't work irl. What if the poor country has it's lifelines supplied by the bad actor? They will act accordingly for their self interests. I highly suggest you read up on corruption in other countries and even on the IMF.