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World Government is the concept of a political body that would make, interpret and enforce International Law . Inherent to the concept of a world government is that nations would be required to surrender some of their Sovereignty in matters which have international implication. In effect, a world government would add another level of administration above the existing national governments (see illustration). Currently, there has not been a nation to officially put forward plans for a world government, although some do see international institutions such as the International Criminal Court as the beginning elements of a world government system. There are many visions of World Government In Science Fiction . HISTORY OF THE WORLD GOVERNMENT IDEA Early concepts The need for a global government to preserve the peace between nations was discussed in ancient Greek and Roman times, and, in modern times the idea has been recognised since the early 14th century ( Dante , for example, discusses it in his book Monarchia, 1329). In 1625, the great Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius wrote De Jure Belli ac Pacis (The Laws of War and Peace), which is commonly taken as the starting-point of modern International Law . The idea of a federation gained much momentum during the late 18th century, a period in which the first modern democratic federation, the USA , was established (1787), and in which Immanuel Kant wrote the essay "Perpetual Peace: a philosophical sketch" (1795). In his essay, Kant describes three basic requirements for organizing human affairs to permanently abolish the threat of a future war:
The English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes ' book '' Leviathan '' (1651) expounded on the ' Social Contract Theory ' of government. ''When ‘nation(s)’ is substituted for ‘person(s)’ in the theory below, it advocates the creation of a world government and depicts the current international system as anarchical''. “The natural condition of ''nations'' is a state of perpetual war of all against all, where no morality exists, and everyone lives in constant fear,” this is the 'state of nature'. Hobbes’ first law states; “That every ''nation'' ought to endeavour peace as far as they have hope of obtaining it; and when they cannot obtain it, that they may seek and use all helps and advantages of war.” Hobbes explains the subtext of the political process, “We mutually divest ourselves of certain rights, such as the right to take another ''nation’s'' life, so to achieve peace. That a ''nation'' be willing, when others are so too, as far-forth as for peace and defense of his ''nation'' he shall think it necessary, to lay down this right to all things; and be contented with so much liberty against other ''nations'', as he would allow other ''nations'' against his ''nation''.” The mutual transferring of these rights is called a contract and is the basis of the notion of moral obligation, duty and government. From selfish reasons alone, we are both motivated to reciprocally transfer these and other obligatory rights, since this will end the dreaded state of war between us. Hobbes continues by discussing the validity of certain contracts. For example, contracts made in the state of nature are not generally binding, for, if I fear that you will violate your part of the bargain, then no true agreement can be reached. This problem is solved by giving unlimited power to a political sovereign who will punish us if we violate our contracts, “that to ensure contracts (and peace) policing power must be given to one person, or one assembly. We do this by saying, implicitly or explicitly, “I authorise and give up my right of governing myself, to this ''nation'', or to this assembly of ''nations'', on this condition, that thou give up thy right to him, and authorise all his actions in like manner.” In 1811, a German philosopher, Karl Krause , suggested, in an essay titled “The Archetype of Humanity”, the formation of five regional federations, Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Australia, aggregated under a world Republic . In 1842, the English poet Lord Alfred Tennyson , published the often-quoted lines (“Locksley Hall”): ''For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see / Saw a Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be /... / Till the war-drum throbb’d no longer / and the battle-flags were furled / In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. / There the common sense of most shall hold / a fretful realm in awe / And the kindly earth shall slumber / lapt in universal law''. Between 1852 and his death at 1892, Bahá'u'lláh , founder of the Bahá'í Faith , set the establishment of global unity, obtained via a global commonwealth of nations, as a key principle of his new religion. He envisioned a set of new social structures based on participation and consultation among the world's peoples, including a world legislature, an international court, and an international executive empowered to carry out the decisions of these legislative and judicial bodies. Connected principles include universal systems of weights and measures, currency unification, and the adoption of a global auxiliary language. The Bahá'í movement currently counts about 5 million members spread across the globe. Following the U.S. experiment, Switzerland (1848) and Canada (1867) formed the first multi-national federations, uniting distinct ethnic/cultural/lingual regions under a common government. Ulysses S. Grant commented, "I believe at some future day, the nations of the earth will agree on some sort of congress which will take cognizance of international questions of difficulty and whose decisions will be as binding as the decisions of the Supreme Court are upon us" {Link without Title} International Peace Congresses were held in Europe every two years starting in 1843, but lost their momentum after 1853 due to the renewed outbreak of wars in Europe (Crimea) and North America (U.S. Civil War). International organizations started forming in the late 19th century – the International Red Cross in 1863, the Telegraphic Union in 1865 and the Universal Postal Union in 1874. The increase in international trade at the turn of the 20th century accelerated the formation of international organizations, and, by the start of World War I in 1914, there were approximately 450 of them. Support for the idea of establishing international law grew during that period as well. The Institute Of International Law was formed in 1873 by the Belgian Jurist Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, leading to the creation of concrete legal drafts, for example by the Swiss Johaan Bluntschli in 1866. In 1883, James Lorimer published "The Institutes of the Law of Nations" in which he explored the idea of a world government establishing the global rule of law. The first embryonic world Parliament , called the Inter-Parliamentary Union, was organized in 1886 by Cremer and Passy, composed of legislators from many countries. In 1904 the Union formally proposed "an international congress which should meet periodically to discuss international questions". Unsuccessful attempts were made throughout the first half of the 20th century to establish global institutions to resolve international disputes peacefully, or, when these fail, to establish laws in the conduct of wars between nations. The most remarkable ones include the Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907, which failed to prevent World War I , and the League Of Nations (1919-1938), which failed to prevent World War II . Post-World War II World War II (WW2), 1938-1945, resulted in an unprecedented scale of destruction of lives (55 million dead, most of them civilians), and the availability of city-destroying atomic weaponry. Some of the acts committed against civilians during the war were on such a massive scale of savagery, they came to be widely considered as crimes against humanity itself. As the war’s conclusion drew near, many shocked voices called for the establishment of institutions able to permanently prevent deadly international conflicts. This led to the founding of the United Nations in 1945, which adopted the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights in 1948. Many, however, felt that the UN, essentially a forum for discussion and coordination between Sovereign governments, is insufficiently empowered for the task. A number of prominent persons, such as Albert Einstein , Winston Churchill , Bertrand Russell and Mahatma Gandhi , called on governments to proceed further by taking gradual steps towards forming an effectual federal world government. The years between the conclusion of WW2 and 1950, when the Korean War started and the Cold War mindset became dominant in international politics, were the "golden age" of the world federalism movement. Wendell Wilkie ’s book "One World", first published in 1943, sold over 2 million copies. Another book, Emery Reves ’ "The Anatomy of Peace" (1945) laid out the arguments for replacing the UN with a federal world government and quickly became the "bible" of world federalists. The grassroots world federalist movement in the US, led by people such as Grenville Clark , Norman Cousins , Alan Cranston and Robert Hutchins , organized itself into increasingly larger structures, finally forming, in 1947, the United World Federalists (later renamed to World Federalist Association, then Citizens For Global Solutions ), claiming membership of 47,000 in 1949. Similar movements concurrently formed in many other countries, leading to the formation, at a 1947 meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, of a global coalition, now called World Federalist Movement . By 1950, the movement claimed 56 member groups in 22 countries, with some 156,000 members. In France, 1948, Garry Davis began an unauthorized speech calling for a WG from the balcony of the UN General Assembly, until he was dragged away by the guards. Mr. Davis renounced his American citizenship and started a Registry Of World Citizens , which claimed to have registered over 500,000 people in less than two years. Opinion polls carried out by UNESCO in 1948-1949 found world government favored by a majority of respondents in six European countries and rejected in three other countries (Australia, Mexico and the United States). While enthusiasm for multinational federalism in Europe incrementally led, over the following decades, to the formation of the European Union , the onset of the Cold War (1950-1990), eliminated the prospects of any progress towards federation with a more global scope. The movement quickly shrunk in size to a much smaller core of activists, and the FWG idea all but disappeared from wide public discourse. However, one organization especially did exceptional work in laying the foundations for a future democratic federal world government that can easily be erected on these foundations. The World Constitution and Parliament Association (WCPA) was founded in 1958 by Philip and Margaret Isely of Denver, Colorado and soon joined by Dr. Terence P. Amerasinghe of Sri Lanka and Dr. Reinhart Ruge of Mexico, as Co-Presidents. Under the leadership of the WCPA, hundreds of world citizens, including many international lawyers and professors, met several times to initiate the process of writing a Constitution for the Federation of Earth. The WCPA then sponsored four Constituent Assemblies of world citizens during which the Constitution for the Federation of Earth was drafted, examined, debated, modified, and further developed - in 1968 in Interlaken, Switzerland, 1977 in Innsbruck, Austria, 1979 in Columbo, Sri Lanka, and 1991 in Troia, Portugal. Since the final approval of the Earth Constitution at Troia, Portugal, the document has been translated into 22 languages and distributed worldwide. After the Constitution was first approved in its substance at the Second Constituent Assembly in 1977, the WCPA also began organizing Provisional World Parliaments under the authority of Article 19 of the Constitution which allows for the development of Provisional World Government until such time as final ratification takes place under the conditions set out in Article 17. The first session of the Provisional World Parliament met in Brighton, England in 1982 and began the process of developing the basis for real world law (which applies to individuals) as opposed to international law (which applies only to sovereign nation-states). Sessions of the Parliament were subsequently held in New Delhi, India, Miami, Florida, Barcelona, Spain, Malta, Bangkok, Thailand, Chennai, India, and Lucknow, India. The Provisional World Parliament completed its Ninth session in Tripoli, Libya in April 2006. There is now a considerable body of high quality provisional world law that is on the web, much of which can be found in English, French, and Spanish. The WCPA also continues to work for the ratification of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth by the people and nations of Earth. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, interest in a federal world government and, more generally, in the global protection of human rights, was renewed. The most visible achievement of the world federalism movement during the 1990s is the Rome Statute of 1998, which led to the establishment of the International Criminal Court in 2002. In Europe, progress towards forming a federal union of European states gained much momentum, leading, in 1992, to the Maastricht Treaty that established the European Union (EU). The EU expanded (1995, 2004) to encompass, in 2005, 450 million people in 25 member states. Following EU’s example, the African Union was founded in 2002 and the South American Community Of Nations in 2004. EXISTING REGIONAL UNIONS OF NATIONS The most relevant model for the incremental establishment of a global federation may be the European Union , which politically unites a large group of widely diverse, some formerly hostile, nations spread over a large geographical area. The EU, which is still evolving, already has many attributes of a federal government, such as open internal borders, a directly elected parliament, a court system and a centralized economic policy. The EU's lead is being followed by the African Union , the Association Of Southeast Asian Nations and the South American Community Of Nations . A multitude of Regional Associations , aggregrating most nations of the world, are at different stages of development towards a growing extent of economic, and sometimes political, integration. THE CURRENT GLOBAL GOVERNANCE SYSTEM The , the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization . The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), were formed together in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, 1944, to foster global monetary cooperation and to fight poverty by financially assisting states in need. The World Trade Organization (WTO) sets the rules of international trade. It already has a semi-legislative body (The General Council, reaching decisions by consensus), and a judicial body (The Dispute Settlement Body). Another influential economical international organization is the Organisation For Economic Co-operation And Development (OECD), with membership of 30 democratic members. A less formal organization, but highly influential in global politics, is G8 , an association of eight of the richest and most technologically advanced democracies. The leaders of the G8 countries meet annually in person to coordinate their policies in confronting global issues, such as poverty, terrorism, infectious diseases and climate change. Militarily, the UN deploys Peacekeeping forces, usually to build and maintain post-conflict peace and stability. When a more aggressive international military action is undertaken, either ad-hoc coalitions (eg, Multinational Force In Iraq ), or regional Military Alliance s (eg, NATO ) are used. International Law encompasses international treaties, customs, and globally acceptable legal principles. With the exceptions of cases brought before the ICC and ICJ (see below), the laws are interpreted by national courts. Many violations of treaty or customary law obligations are overlooked. The International Court Of Justice (ICJ) (also known as World Court) is the judiciary organ of the United Nations. It settles disputes submitted to it voluntarily by states (only), and gives advisory opinions on legal questions submitted to it by other organs of the UN, such as the General Assembly or Security Council. A recent development in International Law is the International Criminal Court (ICC), the first ever permanent international criminal court, which was established to ensure that the gravest international crimes do not go unpunished. The ICC Treaty was signed by 139 national governments, of which 100 ratified it into law by October 2005. In addition to the formal, or semi-formal, international organizations and laws mentioned above, many other mechanisms act to regulate human activities across national borders. In particular, international trade in goods, services and currencies (the "global market") has a tremendous impact on the lives of people in almost all parts of the world, creating deep interdependency amongst nations (see Globalization ). Trans-national (or multi-national) Corporations , some with resources exceeding those available to most governments, govern activities of people on a global scale. The rapid increase in the volume of trans-border digital communications and mass-media distribution (eg, Internet , Satellite Television ) has allowed information, ideas, and opinions to rapidly spread across the world, creating a complex web of international coordination and influence, mostly outside the control of any formal organizations or laws. 'See also:'' United Nations , United Nations Parliamentary Assembly Commonly cited deficiencies
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