An International Court of Liberal Democracy

Democracies all over the world face internal decay and the global democratic community shrinks by the year. Clearly action needs to be taken to halt this perilous trend. Two of the things that are needed are an international charter of liberal democracy and a new International Court of Liberal Democracy (ICLD) adjudicating that charter. The jurisdiction of the ICLD would be limited to its founding charter and so it would not rule on other international law. The purpose of the ICLD would be as a court of last resort to prevent liberal democracies from being undermined from within. The ICLD would certainly not be part of the UN system and sovereign nations that refuse to adhere by the rulings of the ICLD would be expelled and their signatures removed from the founding charter. The global democratic community must create a universal system of accession and expulsion based on adherence to the founding charter with strong economic and security incentives for nations to become and remain liberal democracies. Israel would obviously be concerned that this court would become abused for anti-Israel purposes but Israel would have the opportunity to participate in the writing of the charter as a foundational signatory and thus ensure provisions preventing any conceivable abuse.