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  • About us
  • World Federalism
    • What is World Federalism?
    • Inequality and Economic Justice
    • Environment
    • War and Conflict
    • Democracy
    • The Way Forward
  • Activities
    • Course on Global Democracy
    • Talks and Lectures
    • Ventotene Seminar
    • World Citizenship
    • World Parliament
    • Real Democracy
    • ICC
    • 1 For 7 Billion
  • Lecture Series
    • Videos
    • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Our Partners
    • Quotes
    • Recommended Readings
    • Videos & Podcasts
    • Recommended Websites
  • Get involved
    • Join the email list
    • Join the 10 week course
    • Organize an event
    • Volunteer with us!
    • Become a member
    • Donate

What is World Federalism?

World Federalism means having democratically accountable political institutions to deal with issues at the most appropriate level, according to the principle of subsidiarity. Thus local decisions should be taken at local level, national decisions at national level, and global decisions at global level. Federalism itself is not a radically new idea – many countries are currently organized as federations, including America, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany and Switzerland. What is new and radical about world federalism is the idea to extend this same principle right up to the global level.

We believe that this global level of government, which is presently lacking, is the key to ensuring a peaceful and prosperous future for all of humanity.  Over the past few decades, civilization has reached a point where our major problems are now global — including poverty, inequality, war, terrorism, famine, climate change, overpopulation, and pandemics. However, our institutions have not kept pace with these changes and remain rooted at the national level. Nations make treaties to handle international problems, but these treaties are often resisted, diluted during negotiations, and frequently broken, and when this happens there is little or no means of enforcement. A democratically elected World Federation would be a far more effective and fair way to address a wide range of global problems.

A World Federation would address global issues in much the same way as federal governments address problems within a nation, whether it is structured more like a parliamentary system (as in Germany and Switzerland) or a presidential system (as in the United States), or some new form. To institute world federalism an agreement is needed between different nations to create a system of government that regulates the international political and economic relationships, distributing powers between a central authority and member states.

Many activists agree that the most pressing issues of our time are inequality and economic justice, environment and climate change, war and violence, and the erosion of democracy in contemporary political decision-making. We believe that underlying all of these serious problems is the fundamental problem of the current anarchy at the global level. We believe that if a democratic global political system were established, then we would have the appropriate tools and powers to deal with all the other problems. And conversely, if we do not establish a global democratic system then we will either continue in the sad state that we are in today or we will end up in a non-democratic, oligarchic global system where the rich and powerful control all. Neither bodes well for the future of humanity.

      >>   What is World Federalism?

      >>   Inequality and Economic Justice

      >>   Environment and Climate Change

      >>   War and conflict

      >>   Democracy

      >>   The Way Forward

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Associate Member
  • "If I can get freedom for India now [...] empire idea dissolves and world-state takes its place, in which all the states of the world are free and equal, no State has its military, there may be a world police to keep order in the absence of universal belief in non-violence."

    Mahatma Gandhi, 1942
    Mahatma Gandhi, 1942
    - Quotes
  • “With all my heart I believe that the world’s present system of sovereign nations can only lead to barbarism, war, and inhumanity. Mankind’s desire for peace can be realized only by the creation of a world government.”

    Albert Einstein, 1945
    Albert Einstein, 1945
    - Quotes
  • "I am a citizen, not of Athens, or Greece, but of the world."

    Socrates, ~400 BC
    Socrates, ~400 BC
    - Quotes
  • "A federation of all humanity, together with a sufficient means of social justice to ensure health, education, and a rough equality of opportunity, would mean such a release and increase of human energy as to open a new phase in human history."

    H. G. Wells, 1920
    H. G. Wells, 1920
    - Quotes
  • “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.”

    George Monbiot, 2003
    George Monbiot, 2003
    - Quotes
  • "Faced with the globalization of economy and finance, the mounting imbalance in the distribution of wealth, and asymmetric threats to international security, the answer that is provided by the cooperation of nation-states is often no longer enough. There's an increased urgency that political institutions and instruments of participation and democracy also go through a process of globalization. That's why I support the establishment of a UN Parliamentary Assembly."

    Federica Mogherini, 2013
    Federica Mogherini, 2013
    - Quotes
  • "Today the universal common good poses problems of worldwide dimensions, which cannot be adequately tackled or solved except by the efforts of a public authority [...] which is in a position to operate in an effective manner on a world-wide basis. The moral order itself, therefore, demands that such a form of public authority be established."

    Pope John XXIII, 1963
    Pope John XXIII, 1963
    - Quotes
  • "I have no doubt in my mind that the World Government must and will come, for there is no other remedy for the world's sickness. It can be an extension of the federal principle, a growth of the idea underlying the United Nations, giving each national unit freedom to fashion its destiny according to its genius, but subject always to the basic covenant of the world Government."

    Jawaharlal Nehru, 1948
    Jawaharlal Nehru, 1948
    First Prime Minister of India - Quotes
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