Themes in World Federalism
After World War II, would the UN, like the League of Nations, fail for lack of authority?
World Federalists sought to replace a system of heavily-armed states acting in self-interest with global democratic institutions making and enforcing world law.
But how to proceed? Many ideas surfaced.
The minimalists proposed a world government with only the minimum powers necessary to enforce world peace.
The maximalists felt that world peace would only ensue if a world government had expanded powers such as those necessary to achieve social and economic justice.
The regionalists felt that area unions, like the European Community, would first have to form as a model and inspiration for an eventual world government. (Opponents feared regions would descend into a regime of warring blocs.)
The democratic unionists felt that western democracies should unite first and admit other countries only as they adopted political reforms.
The populists sought to create a mass movement and a constituent assembly to bypass the nation state and form a world government directly.
Reformers felt that incremental change was the most realistic approach, to be achieved by lobbying power brokers in the nations' capitals and at the United Nations.
The functionalists believed that a series of overlapping supranational institutions, rather than a single government, would erode the power of the nation state. (Hence the term 'global governance' rather than 'global government'.)
Federate the Federalists! This exhortation from those who decried the splitting of the broader movement into national and ideological groupings often at odds with each other.
The themes above weave throughout the history of world federalism. For more details, please read 'A Vision of the World - A Short Survey of World Federalist History' by Barbara Walker and Rik Panganiban of the World Federalist Movement which is available from the branch lending library.
- Larry Kazdan
