World Federalism

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See also: World Federalist Movement

World federalism or global federalism is a political ideology supporting a democratic world government. A world federation (or one world government) would have authority on issues of global reach, while the power over local matters would reside in the members of such federation, the overall sovereignty over the world population would largely reside in the federal government.[1]

World federalism is distinguished from unitary world government models by the principle of subsidiarity, by which decisions are made at the most local level that is effective, thus preserving national agency to a large degree. Proponents maintain that a world federation offers a more effective and accountable global governance structure than the existing United Nations organization, while simultaneously allowing wide autonomy for national, regional and local governments.

Although world federalism etymologically implies an Earth-based organization, most proponents agree that[citation needed], the concept would expand to include all of humanity in the event that it becomes an interplanetary civilization.

Overview[]

Distinction to the existing United Nations[]

The United Nations is not a legislative body and is thus limited to a mostly advisory role.[citation needed] Its stated purpose is to foster cooperation between existing national governments rather than exert authority over them.[2][3]

Distinction to a unitary world government[]

A unitary world government would consist of a single, central government body with supreme sovereignty. While administrative subdivisions might exist, their powers are delegated by the central government. In a world federation based on subsidiarity, the delegation is the other way round, from local to central. Global federal government is subsidiary to local in that it only does what local government cannot.[4]

Plans that sought to unify the known world by conquest have historically aimed at a centralized, unitary government, rather than a federal government. World federalists generally do not support violent paths towards a world federation (see World Federalism § Current proposals for establishing a world federation)

Distinction to a world confederation[]

A confederation is a union of sovereign nations, which are pursuing a common cause. Member states in a confederation are sometimes free to secede from the confederation.

In a federation based on subsidiarity, nations choose to give up their sovereignty over global issues they cannot manage to an central authority empowered to manage these issues at the global level. Sovereignty over national issues remains with the nation.

Different forms of federalism can be applied at the global level. Traditional federalism is the model adopted by the United States, in which the States relinquish their sovereignty to the federal government, which in turn represents them in front of other nations. It constitutes a centralized model of world federalism. The most decentralized model of world federalism is the confederation of States, or world confederalism, which gives the States a higher degree of power and freedom in which countries preserve their sovereignty, relinquishing to the federal authority only the powers to manage and regulate intergovernmental relationships. The European Union can be considered an example of such system of government, because its Member States preserve their sovereignty even though they relinquish part of it to the community’s authorities in specific matters. [5]

History[]

Origins of the idea[]

World federalism has evolved from more general proposals for a world government. Proposals for a world government can be found as far back as Ancient Greece, India and China, mostly tied to a mystical cosmology. Alexander the Great pursued the goal of conquering the entire known world and subjugating it under his rule. World governments in various forms later appeared in the works of Dante Alighieri,[6] Immanuel Kant,[7] Anacharsis Cloots[8] and Johann Gottlieb Fichte,[9] where it was explicitly proposed as a means to securing world peace. A world parliament as integral part of a world republic was mentioned first by Pecqueur in 1842.[10] The idea has been popularized by a number of prominent authors, such as Alfred Tennyson and H. G. Wells.

The late 19th century has also seen the establishment of a number of international institutions, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Telegraphic Union, the Universal Postal Union and the Inter-Parliamentary Union with the goal of serving as "an international congress which should meet periodically to discuss international questions".

World War II[]

The rise of nationalism and the growing threat of fascism in Europe caused a resurgence of the idea of a unified world under democratic principles. With the release of the book Union Now, Clarence Streit proposed a political union of democratic nations. The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland were to form the seed for a democratic world republic. A world congress, made up of a House of Representative and a Senate should decide on matters related to defence, trade and currency.[11]

Post World War II[]

The Streit Council for a Union of Democracies, Inc. is the successor to Federal Union, Inc., founded in 1939 by Clarence Streit, which works to unite democracies as a path toward greater individual freedom, international solidarity, and global stability; it aims for the creation of an international order of, by and for the people.[12]

Current proposals for establishing a world federation[]

Flag of the United Nations

There are a number of proposals for the establishment of a world federation:

Reform of the UN and existing institutions:

Regional Unification:

Other:

A comprehensive analysis and a roadmap to world federalism is presented in the book World Federalist Manifesto, Guide to Political Globalization, in which the author presents a model of world federalism divided into international legislative, executive, judicial and financial branches and the world government shares the authority with Member States, in a way that both are sovereign within their respective sphere of competence. [17]

The Earth Constitution, drafted by international legal experts in 1968 and finalized in 1991, outlines a detailed plan for a world federalist government and is promoted today by the Earth Constitution Institute and the World Constitution and Parliament Association.[18] Fourteen sessions of a Provisional World Parliament have been held under the auspices of this proposed system from 1982 to the present and have passed dozens of acts of model legislation on issues of global concern.[19]

Criticism[]

Criticism of world federalism falls into four broad categories:[20]

Infeasible[]

The establishment of a world federation would require extraordinary amounts of coordination and trust from all nations of the world, which are in economic and political competition with each other. Critics argue that world federalism is thus an unreachable utopia.

Proponents of world federalism point to existential crises, such as climate change, war and pandemics, which make global coordination necessary and inevitable.

Undesirable[]

Critics argue that a concentration of power on a global level would raise the risks and probability of tyranny, deterioration of human rights and cultural homogenization.

Proponents of world federalism point out that democratic and republican principles are at the core of world federalism, which are commonly seen as safeguards against tyranny and oppression in nation states.

Insufficient[]

Critics argue that the problems world federalism proposes to solve (e.g. climate change, war, pandemics, hunger) are too big to be solved by political means only, i.e. even if a world federation existed, it would not be capable of alleviating these issues.

World federalists argue that these issues originate from the insistence on national sovereignty and the lack of democratic structures at the global level. Effective global governance could therefore deal directly with the root cause of these problems.

Unnecessary[]

Critics argue that it is unnecessary to establish a world federation to solve global problems. They point to existing structures of global governance, such as international organizations and the United Nations.[21]

World federalists maintain that current structures of global governance are not capable of enforcing decisions, or that they are not democratically representing the world's population.

In popular culture[]

A world federation has been mentioned in several works of fiction, along with more general concepts of world government.

Existing world federalist organizations and campaigns[]

World Federalist Movement member organizations World Federalist Movement associated organizations

Europe[]

Organization Abbreviation Headquarters Country Founded
Weltföderalisten Deutschlands e.V. Hamburg  Germany 1949 (defunct)
Democracy Without Borders DWB Berlin  Germany 2003
Weltbürgervereinigung e.V. Oldenburg  Germany 2007 (defunct)
Association of World Citizens Deutschland e.V AWC Freiburg  Germany
Equilibrismus e.V. Munich  Germany 2005
Eine-Welt-Partei e.V. Wiesbaden  Germany 2003 (defunct)
Federal Union  United Kingdom 1938
Center for United Nations Constitutional Research CUNCR Brussels  Belgium
Global Voice Amsterdam  Netherlands 2004
Global Week of Action for a World Parliament (Democracy Without Borders) Berlin  Germany 2013
One World Trust Wotton-under-Edge  United Kingdom 1951
The Federal Trust London  United Kingdom 1945
Together First London  United Kingdom
UN Parliamentary Assembly Campaign (Democracy Without Borders) Berlin  Germany 2007
World Parliament Experiment (Democracy Without Borders) Berlin  Germany 2019
 [no] Oslo  Norway 1970
 [da] Copenhagen  Denmark 1970
Movimento Federalista Europeo [it] Pavia  Italy 1943
Weltföderalisten der Schweiz Morges   Switzerland 1960
WF Beweging Nederland Den Haag  Netherlands 1948
Union of European Federalists Brussels  Belgium 1946
Union of European Federalists France Lyon  France
Union of European Federalists Spain  Spain 2012
World Democratic Governance Project Association apGDM-WDGpa Barcelona  Spain
Young European Federalists JEF Brussels  Belgium 2004
United World UW Netherlands  Netherlands 2020

Americas[]

Organization Abbreviation Headquarters Country Founded
The Streit Council, Inc. (formerly Federal Union, Inc.) SC Washington, D.C.  USA 1939
Democracia Global DG Buenos Aires  Argentina
Citizens for Global Solutions CGS Washington, D.C.  USA 2003
Democratic World Federalists DWF San Francisco  USA 2004
Centro Mexicano de Responsibilidad Global CEMERG  Mexico
Center for Development of International Law New York  USA
Institute for Global Leadership Worcester  USA 2001
Workable World Trust St. Paul  USA 2014
Coalition for the International Criminal Court CICC New York  USA 1995
International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect New York  USA 2008
The World Parliament Radford  USA
Vote World Parliament Shawville  Canada 2004
World Federalist Movement WFM New York  USA 1947
World Federalist Movement Canada WFMC Ottawa  Canada 1951
World Federalist Movement Toronto Chapter Toronto  Canada
World Service Authority Washington, D.C.  USA 1953
Young World Federalists YWF West Palm Beach  USA 2019
Earth Constitution Institute ECI Independence, VA  USA
United World UW United States  USA 2020

Africa[]

Organization Abbreviation Headquarters Country Founded
Advocates for Youth and Health Development Abuja  Nigeria 2008
African Federation Association - WFM Uganda Kampala  Uganda 1993
Citizens for Development Network Kigali  Rwanda 2014

Asia and Pacific[]

Organization Abbreviation Headquarters Country Founded
United World UW Iran  Iran 2020
The Global Trust Rajkot  India 1996
World Party Japan Matsudo  Japan 1998
Asian Youth Center Hyderabad  India 1984
South Asian Federalists New Delhi  India
One World Jerusalem  Israel
World Citizens Association of Australia WCAA Sydney  Australia
City Montessori School of Lucknow Lucknow  India 2001
JPCWF Tokyo  Japan 1945
WFM Asian Center Osaka  Japan
World Constitution and Parliament Association WCPA Delhi

 India


1958


Global Federal League GFL Kolkata

 India


2021

Other organizations[]

Further reading[]

Published works[]

  • Archibugi, Daniele, Amazon.com, "The Global Commonwealth of Citizens. Toward Cosmopolitan Democracy", (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2008).
  • Baratta, Joseph. Barnesandnoble.com, The Politics of World Federation, (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003). Introduction available Globalsolutions.org
  • Bummel, Andreas and Leinen, Jo. "A World Parliament: Governance and Democracy in the 21st Century", (Democracy Without Borders, 2018).
  • Cabrera, Luis. Political Theory of Global Justice: A Cosmopolitan Case for the World State (London: Routledge, 2004;2006).
  • Glossop, Ronald J. "World Federation? A critical analysis of world government", (McFarland & Company, Inc., 1993).
  • Hamer, Chistopher. UNW.edu.au, Global Parliament - Principles of World Federation (Oyster Bay, NSW: Oyster Bay Books, 1998).
  • Kant, Immanuel. "To Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch", (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2003).
  • Lothian, Philip Henry Kerr. "Pacifism is Not Enough, Nor Patriotism Either", (Clarendon Press, 1935).
  • Lykov Andrey Yurievich. World state as the future of the international community (Moscow: Prospekt, 2013).
  • Mazower, Mark. "Governing the World: The History of an Idea, 1815 to the Present", (Penguin Books, 2013).
  • McClintock, John. The Uniting of Nations: An Essay on Global Governance (3rd ed. revised and updated, P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2010)
  • Marchetti, Raffaele. Global Democracy: For and Against. Ethical Theory, Institutional Design and Social Struggles (London: Routledge, 2008) Amazon.com, . ISBN 978-0-415-55495-4
  • Privat, Edmond. "Federala Sperto", (Universala Ligo, 1958).
  • Reves, Emery The Anatomy of Peace Harper and Brothers, 1945
  • Strauss, Andrew. Oneworldtrust.org, Taking Democracy Global: Assessing the Benefits and Challenges of a Global Parliamentary Assembly. (London: One World Trust, 2005).
  • Stark, Jim. Rescue Plan for Planet Earth: Democratic World Government through a Global Referendum (Toronto: Key Publishing House Inc., 2008)
  • Wells, Henry George. "The Outline of History", (George Newnes, 1920).
  • Wendt, Alexander. "Why a World State is Inevitable," European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 9, No. 4 (2003), pp. 491–542
  • Yunker, James A. Political Globalization: A New Vision of Federal World Government (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2007)

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Marchetti, Raffaele (2011), "Global Federalism", in Chatterjee, Deen K. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Global Justice, Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 414–415, doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_82, ISBN 978-1-4020-9159-9, retrieved 2020-09-15
  2. ^ "Chapter I". www.un.org. 2015-06-17. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Ostrower, Gary B.; Baratta, Joseph Preston (2005-12-01). "The Politics of World Federation". Journal of American History. 92 (3): 1044. doi:10.2307/3660093. JSTOR 3660093.
  4. ^ Elazar, Daniel J. (1997). "Contrasting Unitary and Federal Systems". International Political Science Review / Revue internationale de science politique. 18 (3): 237–251. doi:10.1177/019251297018003002. ISSN 0192-5121. JSTOR 1601342. S2CID 145695515.
  5. ^ "WorldFederalism.com". www.worldfederalism.com/history.htm. 2020-09-12. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  6. ^ Dante Alighieri. (2008). Dante alighieri : on world government (de monarchia). [Place of publication not identified]: Griffon House Pubns. ISBN 978-1-933859-67-5. OCLC 946533127.
  7. ^ Kant Immanuel. (2018). Perpetual Peace. Charles River Editors. ISBN 978-1-5312-5843-6. OCLC 1124394776.
  8. ^ Bevilacqua, Alexander (March 2012). "Conceiving the Republic of Mankind: The Political Thought of Anacharsis Cloots". History of European Ideas. 38 (4): 550–569. doi:10.1080/01916599.2011.648772. ISSN 0191-6599. S2CID 145177201.
  9. ^ Fichte, Johann Gottlieb, 1762-1814. (1977). Characteristics of the present age. [University Publications of America]. OCLC 78118342.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ PECQUEUR, CONSTANTIN. (2013). De la paix, de son principe et de sa ra(c)alisation. [Place of publication not identified]: HACHETTE LIVRE BNF. ISBN 978-2-01-283292-3. OCLC 987844808.
  11. ^ Streit, Clarence K. 1896-1986 Verfasser (2006). Union now. ISBN 978-3-939659-23-5. OCLC 180967026.
  12. ^ "History of the Streit Council". Streit Council. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  13. ^ Leinen, Jo (11 April 2018). A world parliament : governance and democracy in the 21st century. Bummel, Andreas. Berlin. ISBN 978-3-942282-13-0. OCLC 1033689998.
  14. ^ Davenport, John J. (2018-12-07), "The United Democratic League as a cosmopolitan Idea", A League of Democracies, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, [2019] | Series: Routledge global institutions series: Routledge, pp. 31–59, doi:10.4324/9781351050036-2, ISBN 978-1-351-05003-6, retrieved 2020-09-15CS1 maint: location (link)
  15. ^ "A League of Democracies or a Democratic United Nations - Harvard International ReviewHarvard International Review". 2016-08-25. Archived from the original on 2016-08-25. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  16. ^ "Principles". Streit Council. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  17. ^ "World Federalist Manifesto". www.worldfederalistmanifesto.com/. 2007-04-10. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  18. ^ "History of the Earth Constitution - The Earth Constitution Institute". Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  19. ^ "Provisional World Parliament - The Earth Constitution Institute". Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  20. ^ Lu, Catherine (2020), "World Government", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2020 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2020-09-15
  21. ^ Marchetti, Raffaele (July 2006). "Global governance or world federalism? A cosmopolitan dispute on institutional models". Global Society. 20 (3): 287–305. doi:10.1080/13600820600816282. ISSN 1360-0826. S2CID 143934183.
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