World Government

1) What is a world government?

2) Why is the idea of world government
proposed?
3) How could a world government be realised?
• The primary element of world government is the centralization of
authority.
• We live in a decentralised world where sovereign states are the ultimate
sources authority in world politics as they do not accept the authority of
other actors over their domestic affairs.
• Sovereignty first developed in Europe around the time of the Peace of
Westphalia (1648). After Westphalia monarchs agreed in principle to not
interfere in other states.
• Sovereignty spread around the world in recent centuries to become the
organizing principle of world politics.
• In this decentralized system, international law and international
organizations have been created to enable coexistence and cooperation
but they are dependent upon state action to work.
Global Governance suggests all forms of authority, cooperation or
management – be they public or private and formal or informal –
that lead to the achievement of common goals. This means that
global governance encompasses various institutions and practices
set up by states (especially International Organisations) and those
set up by individuals (Non-Governmental Organisations).

The rules and mechanisms of global governance are uncoordinated,

uneven and fundamentally incomplete and sometimes they are
effective and succeed in addressing global problems and
sometimes they fail - with disastrous consequences. But they do
not amount to a world government
• The Enlightenment: Immanuel Kant "Perpetual Peace: A
Philosophical Sketch" (1795).

• Post World War Two: Increased public support after world war II
-World Federalist Movement (1947-), Albert Einstein, Gary Davis
etc.

• Post Cold War Cosmopolitanism: Cosmopolitan democracy

Scholars such as David Held and Richard Falk who argued that
people ought to be “citizens of the world”. Various forms of
transnational activism, especially the protests and activism of the
global Anti-capitalism Movement from the 1990s.
Why is the idea of world government proposed?
1) Inability of states to avoid War
2) The inability of states to address global problems. States do not always
create effective forms of cooperation and “pass the buck” to other states.
3) The inability of states to effectively address and prevent problems that
require long term thinking for all humanity, e.g. climate change
4) The interconnected nature of contemporary security threats require
holistic thinking that states struggle to develop and sustain.
5) The inability of states to promote global justice or social stability in the
face of accelerating economic globalisation where no one state can control
this global economic system.
6) The morally arbitrary nature of nation-states limits compassion for people
outside the state: refugees and global poverty.
• The modern state system is based upon two major
foundations-Nationalism and sovereignty.
• While nationalism and sovereignty have strengthened the
nation state system, they have put hindrance in the
development of internationalism.
• The idea of World Government is one of the alternatives to
the present nation state system in order to end international
anarchy and establish international peace.
• The world government is only alternative which can save the
world from self-destruction and establish international peace
and security.
Conditions for Preservation of Peace in National Societies:
Morgenthau has described three conditions for the preservation of
peace in national societies.
1.Supranational Loyalties
2.Expectation of Justice
3.Overwhelming Power
Utility of the World Government
• The idea of world government as such is non-controversial but the
moot question is whether world government is practicable.
• Every nation being sovereign is free to act as it likes.
• Every nation violates and bypasses international law and
international organization in order to pursue its interests.
• The nations are living in an empire of anarchy.
• The only escape from this anarchic condition is the
establishment of a world government.
• The world government would promote international
cooperation and encourage the development of
supranational feelings.
• The world government can create favorable conditions for
the proper development of civilization and culture.
• The aspirations for power among nations encourages conflict
and war. The world government as the supreme power can
prevent war.
Hindrances in The Way of World Government :
• The national society is the most extensive political organization in which men
live and to which they pay their highest loyalty. Because of this over-riding
loyalty to nation people are not willing to accept world government.
• In order to that world government performs its functions effectively, it shall
have to be equipped with necessary institutions and agencies. There can be
no unanimity among the nations in regard to representation in the
supranational institutions and the powers and functions of the various
agencies.
• International society is composed of sovereign nations and national
sovereignty is the chief obstacle in the establishment of the world
government.
• The establishment of the world government is more in the interest of small
nations than big nations.
Should we have a world government?

Is centralisation of global authority an

unproblematic thing?

Are there good aspects of sovereign nation-states?

Should we just focus on improving and enhancing

global governance?