World government

:Some users are seeking to replace this article by another with the title Federal World Government. See the current version of that article for differences with this one.

Hopes and fears

The forces of globalization have caused major changes in the type of threats and opportunities facing humanity. In many ways the world already operates as a single society, where everyone?s activities affect everyone else. Environmental damage that crosses international borders, nuclear weapons proliferation, terrorism, unchecked national militarism, international crime, cruel regimes, chaotic states and refugees are all cited by world government advocates as issues that cannot be fully addressed by individual national governments, or even by voluntary multilateral treaties and agreements. While some economists hold that military spending stimulates the economy, advocates of world government hope that non-military means of providing security will be more economical and free up resources that can stimulate prosperity directly and more efficiently. They hope that a worldwide democratic electorate would reassign military budgets to stimulate economic growth in poor countries, e.g., by improving education and productivity-amplifying infrastructure, and the global maintenance of the rule of law. The local populations, however, may prefer to reallocate military budgets to lowering taxes or increasing local social welfare spending instead.

Related Topics:
Globalization - Nuclear weapons - Proliferation - Terrorism - Militarism - International crime - Chaotic - Refugees

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Beyond the humane benefits, advocates claim such reallocation would eliminate, once and for all, inter-governmental threats, including a large-scale nuclear holocaust (World War III). At the end of the second world war, nationalists and internationalists alike found this to be a compelling motive for the formation of world government:

Related Topics:
World War III - Second world war - Nationalist - Internationalist

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: "Unless we establish some form of world government, it will not be possible for us to avert a World War III in the future." (Winston Churchill, 1945).

Related Topics:
Winston Churchill - 1945

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: "As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable. There is no salvation for civilization, or even the human race, other than the creation of a world government." (Albert Einstein, 1945 from "World Citizen Quotes")

Related Topics:
Albert Einstein - 1945

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While acknowledging that a world government may be wasteful and inefficient, proponents contend that the costs of not having such a government are far higher. Conversely, they claim that the currently fragmented and loosely coordinated system of international governance misses countless opportunities for beneficial collaboration across national boundaries. To quote H.G. Wells (The Outline of History, 1922): ?There can be little question that the attainment of a federation of all humanity, together with a sufficient measure of social justice, to ensure health, education, and a rough measure of equality of opportunity to most of the children born into the world, would mean such a release and increase of human energy as to open a new phase in human history.?

Related Topics:
H.G. Wells - The Outline of History

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From the above observations, advocates of world government hope that enlightened self-interest at the national level would naturally lead to the rise of a world government, without the common external threats that led states and provinces to federate into countries in previous centuries. In the short term, however, supporters of world government have a difficult path.

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National governments in positions of greater military or economic power enjoy greater freedom to pursue their agendas with lower concern for the reaction of governments of less powerful nations. Accepting the supremacy of global law requires such governments to accept additional constraints on the range of available actions they may take, and to comply with decisions of courts over which they have limited control. Somewhat paradoxically, this often leads governments of more powerful democracies to behave less democratically in the international arenas than despotic governments of less powerful countries who have more to gain from effective collaboration.

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Divergence of strongly held shared views between nations may make practical implementation excessively difficult. A federal world government would not be able to function effectively when its policies would often encounter strong rejections by some of its constituent nation states, which may simply refuse to follow them. A related implementation difficulty lies with establishing affective democratic representation mechanisms. It is a major challenge to conceive of a scheme in which voters would feel their interests and views are adequately taken into consideration by the government. Consider that in a world of 6.5 billion citizens (the estimated world population in mid-2005), a member of a 1000-seats global parliament will represent, on average, 6.5 million voters.

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There are also factors which, in practice, strongly discourage popular support for world government. People in many countries feel intense loyalty to their nation-state and/or legally protected rights, resulting in reluctance to accept arrangements in which national sovereignty is compromised. Critics, especially in Western countries where high value is placed on individual autonomy, argue that a world government would constitute an absolute collective or dictatorial control from which there is no escape. Others are concerned that proper controls over a remote world government would be difficult to implement, leading to excessive waste, corruption and abuse of power. To quote former U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater: "A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away."

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On the other hand, some people in non-Western countries are suspicious of world government for fears that Western powers will unduly impose their values through control of these institutions.

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Some religious teachings, such as those of the Bahá'í Faith and Unitarian Universalism, are highly supportive of a world government. At the other extreme, numerous fundamentalist Christians in the U.S. associate the idea of world government (and, indeed, powerful international organizations in general) with the Antichrist and the End Times. (See, for example, Pat Robertson's book The New World Order.)

Related Topics:
Bahá'í Faith - Unitarian Universalism - Antichrist - End Times - Pat Robertson

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Despite the slow progress, many advocates remain hopeful that ingenuity, education, statesmanship, and other proactive efforts would continue to advance support among nations and their leaders for a greater political and social union based on justice, consultation, and respect for state and individual rights. The desire of countries bordering the European Union to join it, in effect creating a voluntarily expanding democratic empire, demonstrates the attraction of a multi-national political and economical integration. (However, the apparent reluctance of many within the union to allow rapid expansion may be a countervailing indicator). Nations in Africa (AU), South America (SACN) and South-East Asia (ASEAN) have launched similar political integration efforts. Activist organizations, such as the World Federalist Movement, continue to promote the idea of a global federal democracy amongst national governments, and are constantly seeking to expand their membership.

Related Topics:
European Union - AU - SACN - ASEAN - World Federalist Movement

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The United Nations as a budding federal world government

The United Nations currently mainly serves as a forum for the world's sovereign states to debate issues and determine collective courses of action. As such, it is not set up to easily evolve into a federal world government.

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Legitimacy is lacking in that the operation of the UN is not based on widely accepted principles of good governance, such as openness, transparency and accountability, or democratic principles, such as proportional representation (each government has one vote regardless of population size, or whether it truly represents that population) or equality of status (some countries have permanent seats and veto power in the security council). Some proposals for improving the UN's legitimacy involve the introduction of weighted voting, the establishment of a directly-elected parliamentary organ, or the creation of an additional body (internal or external) open only to self-styled democracies.

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Power is lacking in that implementation of its decisions is entirely dependent on the goodwill of its members. It has no legal power to directly collect taxes to fund operations, maintain an army or a police force, or directly impose economical penalties on national governments refusing to comply with its decisions. Proposals for increasing the UN's power include the direct collection of taxes, for instance:

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• Taxing international monetary transactions (the "Tobin Tax")
• Licensing the use of global commons (oceans, space)

An independent income would permit the UN to establish its own standing rapid-deployment military and police forces.

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A proposal called the binding triad would make General Assembly resolutions binding if approved by a group of nations representing a majority of

Related Topics:
Binding triad - Binding - Majority

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• The world's population;
• UN financial contributions; and
• The membership of the General Assembly.

One the most significant current hurdle to the growth in UN influence is the reluctance of the current US administration to concede autonomy, especially following the refusal of the Security Council to approve a military attack on Iraq in early 2003 and the subsequent declaration of this attack as illegal by the UN's Secretary General. Some hope that the reluctance of the US government to support further UN growth would be overcome by reform, openness and accountability in the UN, and demonstrated integrity and transparency in the administration of international law. Others believe that a refusal by other nations to collaborate with the US other than via the UN (or other rule-governed institutions) would be necessary.

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More on UN reform proposals:

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• See "reforming the UN" section in the United Nations article, world presidentialism and world democracy.
• See Reform of the United Nations.
• Report of the Commission on Global Governance
• Reform at the UN
• Peoples' Assembly Alternative structure to the General Assembly
• Revitalizing the United Nations: Reform Through Weighted Voting A detailed analysis of shortcomings and a simple proposal.
• A Statement of the Bahá'í International Community