The Federalist Debate

The leading magazine on Federalism in Europe and the World

The Case for a UN Parliamentary Assembly

A classic of World Federalist thought.
First published in 1992 and still highly relevant.

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Books

Can Globalization Succeed?

(The Big Idea Series)

By Dena Freeman (2020)

A lively examination of the effects of neoliberal globalization, its ability to adapt, and its potential to survive the antiglobalization and nationalist backlash.

The expansion of capitalism and neoliberal ideologies have delivered economic integration between countries and brought global inter-connectedness to individuals. So why do so many people now feel that they are citizens of nowhere, disparaged by the cosmopolitan elites? Has democracy and the power of nation states been irredeemably weakened by unfettered global finance, opaque forms of global governance, and the power of transnational corporations? Can the huge rise in social and economic inequality be reversed? Can diverse cultural expression be maintained in a globalizing world? In the context of the current nationalist backlash and the momentous impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, this thought-provoking volume considers whether globalization is dead or whether it will survive, and perhaps transform.

Written in a clear and engaging style, the volume traces the development of economic globalization starting from the first wave of colonialization in the 15th century, through the first period of globalization at the end of the 19th century, and up to the contemporary period of globalization that started in the 1980s and appears today to be teetering on the brink of collapse. It explores the impacts of globalization on today’s world, from global supply chains and tax havens to rising economic inequality, climate change and pandemics, and assesses the different impacts on rich and poor countries, and on the rich and poor within countries. It then reviews the growing anti-globalization sentiment, starting from the anti-IMF protests that raged through developing countries in the 1980s and 1990s, to the emergence of the transnational anti-globalization movement of the 2000s, to more recent uprisings such as the Arab Spring, The Occupy Movement, the Gilets Jaunes, and to the current populist nationalist backlash led by President Trump and embodied in the 2016 Brexit vote. Sensing that globalization has reached a tipping point, the book considers a range of possible scenarios for the future world order, including nationalism, authoritarianism and democratic globalism. Finally, it explores whether globalization can be democratized in a world in which effective and inclusive global governance is crucial to solving global problems, such as tackling climate change, controlling global pandemics and upholding universal human rights.

150 color illustrations

A World Parliament

Governance and Democracy in the 21st Century

By Jo Leinen and Andreas Bummel (2018)

Global challenges such as war, poverty, inequality, climate change and environmental destruction are overwhelming nation-states and today’s international institutions. Doing the right thing requires more than having the right policies; it requires having the right political structures to implement them.

Following the emergence of democracy in the ancient Greek city states and its expansion to the modern territorial states in the 18th century, the next step is now imminent. Achieving a peaceful, just and sustainable world requires an evolutionary leap forward to a federal global government. The creation of a democratic world parliament is the centrepiece of this project. Against the backdrop of the problem of modernity, this book sheds light on the history, contemporary relevance and future implementation of this monumental idea.

The first part of this book explores the philosophical foundations of cosmopolitanism and a world parliament since ancient times and fills a gap by tracing the history of the idea and of the attempts to bring it about from the French Revolution to the present day.

The second part sets the issue in the context of global challenges such as climate change and planetary boundaries, the management of public goods, the stability of the financial system, combating tax evasion, terrorism and organized crime, disarmament, and protecting human rights. The construction of global democracy also plays a decisive role in combating hunger, poverty and inequality and in global water policy. Rapid developments in the fields of bio- and nanotechnology, robotics and artificial intelligence are giving rise to fundamental questions that humanity is not institutionally prepared for.

There is an overarching narrative that describes the dysfunctions and failings of today’s international order. At the same time, the alternative of a democratic world order and its underlying principles is presented in detail. The authors stress that there is a right to democracy that applies not only to the national but also to the global level. Against the backdrop of the power structures of the transnational elite, the book argues for the implementation of a new global class compromise and traces the long-term development of a planetary consciousness and global solidarity.

The third part discusses a possible path and scenarios towards the realization of a world parliament and the transition to a democratic world order.

Global Democracy: Normative and Empirical Perspectives

Daniele Archibugi, Mathias Koenig-Archibugi, Raffaele Marchetti (Editors) 2011
Democracy is increasingly seen as the only legitimate form of government, but few people would regard international relations as governed according to democratic principles. Can this lack of global democracy be justified? Which models of global politics should contemporary democrats endorse and which should they reject? What are the most promising pathways to global democratic change? To what extent does the extension of democracy from the national to the international level require a radical rethinking of what democratic institutions should be? This book answers these questions by providing a sustained dialogue between scholars of political theory, international law and empirical social science. By presenting a broad range of views by prominent scholars, it offers an in-depth analysis of one of the key challenges of our century: globalizing democracy and democratizing globalization.

Global Democracy: For and Against

Ethical Theory, Institutional Design and Social Struggles

By Raffaele Marchetti, Routledge; 2008

This book defends the case for the expansion of the democratic model to the global political sphere. Concentrating on the democratic deficit of international affairs, it examines the nexus between the phenomenon of international exclusion and the political response of global democracy.

This distinctive position is developed through a critical survey of the principal theories for and against global democracy. The main rival narratives (realism, nationalism, civilizationism, and liberal internationalism) are rebutted on grounds of failing democratic principles of inclusion. Based on a notion of interaction-dependent justice, these theories arguably provide a crucial ideological support to the exclusionary attitude of the current international system. Going beyond these exclusionary paradigms, the book defends a model of cosmo-federalism that is all-inclusive, multilayered and rooted.

The text adopts an interdisciplinary perspective that combines three areas of scholarship: international political theory, international relations and political sociology. Within them, a number of contemporary controversies are analyzed, including the ethical dispute on global justice, the institutional debate on supranationalism, and the political discussion on social emancipatory struggles. From such an interdisciplinary perspective derives an engaged text that will be of interest to students and researchers concerned with the key political aspects of the discussion on globalization and democratic global order.

A Global Parliament: Principles Of World Federation

Author: Christopher Hamer

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (246 pages), 1998

‘A Global Parliament’ gives a comprehensive discussion of the idea of world federation. Why should we want it? How might we get there? The world federalist movement has a long and fascinating history, but the end of the Cold War allows us a fresh look at the issues in question. The European Union also provides us with a crucial new model for the future. This is a book for all those interested in global governance, and how it might evolve in the new millennium.

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Author: Joseph E. Schwartzberg

United Nations University Press (364 pages), 2013

Global problems require global solutions. The United Nations as presently constituted, however, is incapable of addressing many global problems effectively. One nation– one vote decisionmaking in most UN agencies fails to reflect the distribution of power in the world at large, while the allocation of power in the Security Council is both unfair and anachronistic. Hence, nations are reluctant to endow the United Nations with the authority and the resources it needs. Extensive reform is essential.

This analysis is rooted in the proposition that the design of decisionmaking systems greatly affects their legitimacy and effectiveness. Joseph Schwartzberg proposes numerous systemic improvements to the UN system, largely through weighted voting formulas that balance the needs of shareholders and stakeholders in diverse agencies. It indicates ways in which the interests of regions can supplement those of nations while voices of nongovernmental organizations and ordinary citizens can also be heard. In numerous contexts, it promotes meritocracy and gender equity.

The book’s aim is not to create an unrealistic utopia, but rather to establish a workable world in which the force of law supplants the law of force; a world committed to justice and continuous yet sustainable development. The author argues that, given the many existential threats now confronting our planet, the time frame for decisive action is short. The task is daunting and success is not guaranteed, but in view of the urgency of our situation, we can find ways of mustering the will, imagination, and resources to do the job.

The Peacemakers: India And The Quest For One World

Author: Manu Bhagavan

Palgrave Macmillan 2013

India and the Quest for One World is the gripping story of India’s quest to create a common destiny for all people across the world based on the concept of ‘human rights’. In the years leading up to its independence from Great Britain, and more than a decade after, in a world torn asunder by unchecked colonial expansions and two world wars, Jawaharlal Nehru had a radical vision: bridging the ideological differences of the East and West, healing the growing rift between capitalist and communist, and creating ‘One World’ that would be free of empire, exploitation and war.

Madame Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Nehru’s sister, would lead the fight in and through the United Nations to turn all this into a reality. An electric orator and outstanding diplomat, she travelled across continents speaking in the voice of the oppressed and garnering support for her cause. The aim was to lay the foundation for global governance that would check uncontrolled state power, address the question of minorities and migrant peoples, and put an end to endemic poverty. Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy would go global. All that stood between the Indians and success was their own fallibility, diplomatic intrigue, and the blinding haze of mistrust and overwhelming fear engendered by the Cold War.

As Manu Bhagavan recounts the story of this quest, iconic figures are seen through new eyes as they challenge all of us to imagine a better future. Based on seven years of research, across three continents, this is the first truly international history of newly independent India.

The Politics of World Federation

By Joseph Preston Baratta (2004)

Westport, CT: Praeger, (700 pages)

Vol. 1, United Nations, U.N. Reform, Atomic Control;

Volume I traces the influence of a generation of internationalists on policy, particularly on Winston Churchill’s proposal of Anglo-French union of June 16, 1940, deliberations in the U.S. State Department on the shape of a postwar international security organization until October 1943, the Baruch plan for the international control of atomic energy in l946, and early efforts at UN reform.

Vol. 2, From World Federalism to Global Governance.

Volume 2 recounts the history and practical politics of creating a world in which the rule of law maintains the peace in the same way as in well-organized free national states. The coming of the Cold War by 1947 is the principal explanation for the immediate failure of the world federalists. The historic opportunity for so fundamental an innovation in international relations as the establishment of even a limited world federation had passed, but for the next few years there was a vigorous and deep political thinking about the continued prospect of war. Work toward this goal continued, and eventually the United World Federalists built up enough of a popular movement to pass resolutions favoring U.S. participation in 22 states.

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Author:

Jerry Tetalman & Byron Belitsos

Origin Press (CA) (265 pages), 2005

The definitive account for our time of how humanity can abolish war by transforming the United Nations into an effective world democracy. One World Democracy presents the only viable long-term solution to today’s most urgent global problems: democratic world government and the rule of enforceable global law—a federation of all nations. After centuries of warfare, Europe has accomplished just such a transformation by outlawing war between the member states of the European Union. This book shows how to do the same thing at the global level through implementing the only time-tested solution to violence and injustice—law and democratic government. Humanity has a sovereign right to govern itself; read this book to find out how we can create a new social contract for the entire planet.

Author: George Monbiot

Publisher: The New Press (274 pages), 2004

Naomi Klein’s ‘No Logo’ told us what was wrong. Now, George Monbiot shows us how to put it right. Provocative, brave and beautifully argued, ‘The Age of Consent’ is nothing less than a manifesto for a new world order.

‘Our task is not to overthrow globalisation, but to capture it, and to use it as a vehicle for humanity’s first global democratic revolution.’

All over our planet, the rich get richer while the poor are overtaken by debt and disaster. The world is run not by its people but by a handful of unelected or underelected executives who make the decisions on which everyone else depends: concerning war, peace, debt, development and the balance of trade. Without democracy at the global level, the rest of us are left with no means of influencing these men but to shout abuse and hurl ourselves at the lines of police defending their gatherings and decisions. Does it have to be this way?

George Monbiot knows not only that things ought to change, but also that they can change. Drawing on decades of thinking about how the world is organized and administered politically, fiscally and commercially, Monbiot has developed an interlocking set of proposals all his own, which attempts nothing less than a revolution in the way the world is run. If these proposals become popular, never again will people be able to ask of the critics of the existing world order, ‘we know what they don’t want, but what do they want?’

Fiercely controversial and yet utterly persuasive, the ingenious solutions Monbiot suggests for some of the planet’s most pressing problems mark him as perhaps the most realistic utopian of our time and a man whose passion is infectious and whose ideas, many will surely come to agree, are becoming irresistible.

Author: Daniele Archibugi

Publisher: Princeton University Press (298 pages), 2008

The Global Commonwealth of Citizens critically examines the prospects for cosmopolitan democracy as a viable and humane response to the challenges of globalization. Arising after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the decisive affirmation of Western-style democracy, cosmopolitan democracy envisions a world politics in which democratic participation by citizens is not constrained by national borders, and where democracy spreads through dialogue and incentives, not coercion and war. This is an incisive and thought-provoking book by one of the world’s leading proponents of cosmopolitan democracy.

Daniele Archibugi looks at all aspects of cosmopolitan democracy in theory and practice. Is democracy beyond nation-states feasible? Is it possible to inform global governance with democratic norms and values, and if so, how? Archibugi carefully answers questions like these and forcefully responds to skeptics and critics. He argues that democracy can be extended to the global political arena by strengthening and reforming existing international organizations and creating new ones, and he calls for dramatic changes in the foreign policies of nations to make them compatible with global public interests. Archibugi advocates giving voice to new global players such as social movements, cultural communities, and minorities. He proposes building institutional channels across borders to address common problems, and encourages democratic governance at the local, national, regional, and global levels.

The Global Commonwealth of Citizens is an accessible introduction to the subject that will be of interest to students and scholars in political science, international relations, international law, and human rights.

Daniele Archibugi is professor of innovation, governance, and public policy at the University of London, Birkbeck College, and a research director at the Italian National Research Council in Rome. His books include Debating Cosmopolitics and The Globalizing Learning Economy.

Author: Ronald J. Glossop

Publisher: McFarland & Co Inc (324 pages), 2001

This immensely successful textbook is broken into four parts. Part One: Introduction to the War Problem discusses the nature of the war problem, the conceptual framework, and the historical framework. Part Two: Causes of War talks about the cause of war, group competition and group identification, other views about causes of war, and the value of war. In Part Three: The Contemporary Situation, the reader will learn about ideological aspects, national-historical aspects, military aspects, institutional aspects, and legal aspects of the contemporary situation. Part Four: Proposals for Solving the War Problem discusses reforming the attitudes of individuals, reforming the internal operation of national governments, reforming the policies of national governments, and reforming the international system. It also includes maps, tables and charts which will be especially helpful to the reader.