Global Unity through a World State and a World Constitution

 

Nicholas Hagger, 2018

 

Since the Second World War the UN has failed to prevent 162 wars and there are right now 72 wars being fought which the UN has failed to stop. And there are 14,900 nuclear weapons in the world. When I was born there were none.

 

After the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, President Truman, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill and President Eisenhower all called for a democratic World State, and their call was followed up by Mahatma Gandhi, the philosopher Bertrand Russell, President J.F. Kennedy and President Gorbachev. Continuing this tradition – I seem to be the only thinker and writer to be continuing this tradition in the 21st century – and as perturbed by the 72 wars and 14,900 nuclear weapons as Truman, Einstein and the others were perturbed by the first two atomic bombs, I have written World State (2018).

 

World State calls for a democratic World State whose lower house, a World Parliamentary Assembly, would initially be based in the UN General Assembly. There would be 850 world MPs and there would be an upper house of 92 senators. I set out the constituencies of both MPs and senators in the book.

 

All the 193 nation-states in the UN would remain the same internally but they would give up control to the partly-federal World State in seven areas: they would consent to the abolition of all wars, there would be world-wide disarmament of all nuclear and other weapons that would be enforced by a World Armed Force, there would be a sharing of natural resources and energy, and there would be federal programs to combat famine, disease and poverty. The world’s financial and environmental problems would be solved centrally by the two houses of the world government.

 

As I see it, the World State would be called the United Federation of the World. This would echo Tennyson’s lines in ‘Locksley Hall’ (1842):

For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;…
Till the war-drum throbbed 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.

I have written a companion volume, World Constitution (2018), arguably the first workable written world constitution. Truman, Einstein, Churchill, Eisenhower and the rest did not have a world constitution to consider back in the late 1940s. My World Constitution can be placed before the Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres. It is in 145 Articles that contain all the human rights that will be guaranteed to humankind.

 

Both these works involve statecraft that has grown out of my fundamental perception of Universalism. Universalism examines the whole in each discipline. Historical Universalism sees the whole of history (all the civilisations) as a unity. Philosophical Universalism sees the whole of philosophy (the whole of the universe) as a unity. Literary Universalism sees the whole of literature (the literature of all countries) as a unity. Religious Universalism sees the whole of religion (all the religions, which have the same essence, the Mystic Light, also known as the Divine Light) as a unity. And political Universalism sees the whole of the international order (all the 193 nation-states of the world) being governed as a whole, as a unity. The Universalist perspective is growing in our present time.

 

Such a new democratic World State would not allow a few élite families to continue looting the world’s resources. It would bring democracy to the whole world. This will not happen for a while: populism and excessive nationalism will have to run their course and be found wanting before this can begin to happen. Trade wars will have to be seen to be a bad thing, and the failure of nationalism, which leads to wars (72 happening right now), will result in a new yearning for world peace and for political Universalism – for the building of a new model for world government that is democratic and partly-federal and can bring in a new era of peace.

 

As I see it, a US President (a successor to the present incumbent) would propose the scheme of a World State comprising a World Parliamentary Assembly of 850 MPs and a World Senate of 92 senators to the UN General Assembly, which would vote for a World Constitutional Convention to draw up a World Constitution that would establish the new institutions. My World Constitution can be a starting-point for this process. This may not happen until 2030 or later, but there will come a time when the US, the EU, China and Russia are all interested in co-operating on the basis of allocated seats. I have set out a proposal for a rationally-based distribution of these seats in World State.

 

If all wars can be stopped and all weapons and nuclear weapons can be impounded, a peaceful humankind would be able to liberate huge resources to spend on the environment. The federal government of the World State would centrally see that there is enough food and water to go around in Africa and in Asia, and that a massive rebuilding and reconstruction program takes place in Syria and other war-torn countries.

 

Such a world would have unity and peace, all nation-states would be interdependent, wars would be abolished – declared illegal – and disarmament would be enforced, the environment and energy would be looked after, there would be economic justice and help for all. The earth would be a Paradise.

 

My two books, which came out at the end of June 2018, foresee a world in which all members of humankind will have their lot improved. Before the mystic Light all human beings are spiritually equal, and I hold up the possibility of a world not too far ahead in which all can dwell at peace without the need for refugees.

11 July 2018

The two books:

  • Nicholas Hagger, World State: Introduction to the United Federation of the World, How a democratically-elected World Government can replace the UN and bring peace, O-Books, 2018
  • Nicholas Hagger, World Constitution: Constitution for the United Federation of the World, O-Books, 2018