Despite the massive injections of money into the world’s economy, the situation is still dismal. No country is really benefiting in the current economic climate. This problem has come on so suddenly and massively that it’s forced most leaders to table a lot of issues that also deserve attention. Climate change, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, sustainability and development are all issues leaders still face.
Would these problems be better solved by a worldwide government? World government may not be essential to solve these problems, but it is interesting to think about and something that needs serious debate. When they try to envision it, most people either see some sort of evil empire dominating the world through its military might, or a loose connection of alliances like the UN, but history says a likely world government wouldn’t look like either.
A government with any real power to do something is going to need legitimacy. It won’t be a democracy. There will be too many levels of power in this new regime to have the individual represented in the same way it’s represented today and has been in the past. National governments will need to surrender their sovereignty to some new entity. This state-like body will resemble parliaments in European countries, and have real control over what happens anywhere on our planet. Larger interest groups would form and would severely limit what this United States of Earth can actually do. The will of the people, though on a much grander scale, will still be what ultimately decides what happens.
The question of how we as citizens are going to be represented in this supposed parliament is very interesting. How will nations that are around today function? Globalization is pushing the entire world to a more Western model of liberal democracy, but models of government and society still exist that haven’t embraced this idea. Emerging powers and those who are still lagging in development will figure prominently in future solutions. Though they are slowly catching up economically, catching up ideologically is going to be more of a threat to their stability. China, India, Africa, Russia and the Middle East have a lot of work to do before they’re ready for their responsibilities in future coalitions.
Is this impossible? Technology like the Internet and better transportation is making the world resemble a global community more and more every day. Common problems drive individuals to cede their liberty to a common power for safety. This base level evolves into a city, a kingdom, a nation and even into our modern-day superpowers and European Unions. How that power can exercise its responsibility is the eternal question of government, which will never stop being asked, especially when it has to be the government for, literally, everyone.
David Dawson is a senior in political science and economics. He can be reached at [email protected].
