Just an idea from the real world, as the colonies in the new world would be "outside" of local politics in Europe. Wars would still spread to the colonies, although the colonies being so remote, these wars would take different forms than they did in Europe. England or Spain would send large fleets to blockade ports or hunt down enemy fleets.
The current wars, at least on the PvE server, is pointless. With the last patch, the introduction of Fine Wood RNG drops, and the lack of resources for some nations, crafting and trading has become somewhat of a nightmare.
I suggest you drop the voting for alliances or for wars, and replace this with a "Letter of Marque" against a nation.
This could take the form of a price in Gold for buying a Letter, which would be needed for attacking other nations.
I believe this would result in:
Trading to be a "Free to Play" endeavour, where you're safe when trading. Each nation would have "Letters of Marque" for purchase against any other nation. Buying one would give you a Privateer Flag, which in turn would mean any other nation might attack you, and you can attack the nation specified by the Letter. This would mean a quite different PvP design, as all are safe from attacks while trading unless they have the Privateer Flag raised. On release this could take the form of "Premium time" for purchase, which would give the player a "General Letter of Marque" against all other nations. I realize that this will mean less PvP battles against "innocent noobs", but it would separate PvP'ers and PvE'ers to the extent where they possibly could live together on the same server. This would mean the same access to the game for both hardcore gamers, and casual players. In my opinion this would make trading reach all regions of the map. All players would have equal access to resources, although some kind of export/import tax system could be implemented to make some nations benefit from national resources, in order for the choice of nation to still be an important factor. Wars in Europe could be also be added, to make taxes less static. Both PvP'ers and PvE'ers would benefit from this, as more people would trade, which means more crafting, which means better ships, which means more battles (at least in my opinion). Port Battles could still be a factor, but more of a sacking of settlements, and plunder of resources, rather than conquer of ports. Smuggler Flag could also be expanded to meaning you could enter all ports belonging to any nation, but would also mean you could be attacked by PvP'ers. Although this would not be my preference until you could see the effects this system would have on the PvP activity.
I believe this could make economic design easier, as trade would be conducted on a larger scale, and the whole map could be used more effectively. This could also mean an end to NPC production of crafting materials.
I do believe that nobody ever had elections on what wars to start anyways... But, just a thought...