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RILEY PARK YOUTH COUNCIL asks:

1. How does having a world government make the world better?

A democratic world government would have more authority to prevent war as a means of settling disputes. B.C. and Alberta, which are embedded in a Canadian constitution, do not drop bombs on each other to resolve their differences. If negotiation fails, the matter goes to court. Obviously, this is what should happen between countries. But the international scene today is like the Wild West where armed bands answer to no one. We need government to manage conflict and provide law and order.   In addition to issues of war and peace, there are other problems that weak government at the international level cannot solve. Many world federalists believe that safeguarding human rights, protecting the global environment, and ensuring minimum levels of economic justice require a system of rules determined and enforced by democratic institutions. Asking for voluntary compliance from 191 armed states acting mainly in their own national interests is just not an effective way to run the world. 2. Will a single government force the world to take on everyone's      problems? We are not proposing a ‘single’ government. We are talking about extending democracy to the global level. Municipal, provincial and national governments would still exist, but there would also be a world ‘federal government’ with  limited jurisdiction for global problems. A hole in the road in front of your house would still be dealt with by your municipality. The world ‘federal government’ would deal with the hole in the ozone layer because it affects all countries. 3. Wouldn't a single government eliminate economic competition? Firstly, as discussed, we are not proposing a ‘single’ government, but a ‘federal’ one. Secondly, economic competition occurs between businesses and sectors of the economy. The fact that the United States has a federal government does not mean it has no economic competition. In fact, in order for there to be economic competition there must be government to set the framework – the rules that all businesses must follow. That is why we already have a World Trade Organization (W.T.O.) that makes world-wide enforceable rules. This institution of world government already exists. Our quarrel is that the W.T.O. is not open, accountable and democratic and hence many feel it does not necessarily act in the best interests of the wider world community. 4. Not everyone is an idealist, why are you?
                It beats just watching TV. Too many commercials.
5. If you use the World Passport at the airport today, how will it work?
    Are the World Passports easy to forge?
    It would not be an effective means of travel, and could be forged as easily as other passports. The World Passport should be seen mainly as a consciousness-raising device. It provides a vision of a future in which everyone can travel the world without hindrance or fear.
  Garry Davis, originator of the passport, has shown much personal courage in his escapades that gave extensive publicity to the concept of world government, but his actions have had more symbolic than practical significance. 6. How will the governing system work? What method of government would you use?
Many models have been proposed and debated, but the World Federalist Movement has not promoted a particular blueprint or constitution because so many are possible.
It is generally agreed that Global Government

This does not preclude the possibility that we could have a system of ‘global governance’ rather than ‘global government’. In other words, we could have a system of overlapping institutions dealing with particular areas, each institution governed democratically. 7. How are you going to get every person to agree with you? As H.G. Wells said "Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe.’ We must persuade enough people of the benefits of creating strong democratic institutions capable of preventing military holocausts, environmental disasters, and genocidal anarchy.   Unfortunately, institutions like the League of Nations and the United Nations were set up to stabilize international relations only after major world wars that cost millions of lives. As the world becomes more tightly integrated through faster communications and globalization, we expect ideas of better global governance will sell themselves as the obvious solution to impending calamities that face us. 8. Do you believe that it is possible to have every country accept this
concept? Who would have guessed that citizens of European countries such as France and Germany with a long history of rivalry and destructive wars would now elect representatives to a common European Parliament?   And why are the governments of the former Soviet Bloc lining up to join the European Union even though they must yield to supranational authority? They are doing so because the benefits of joining (such as military security, economic aid, and guaranteed human rights) are so overwhelming that these countries and their populations are desperate to get in and deeply afraid of being left out. 9. How do you propose to convince current governments to give up their power?
    Governments generally give up powers only when they see it as in their best interests because they get something better in return.
  After breaking from Britain, the American colonies operated under Articles of Confederation for thirteen years, a system with a weak central government, arguably like the United Nations today. It did not work; a new U.S. Constitution was necessary. And we must consider the circumstances of the time. Today we communicate almost instantly across the globe and travel quickly by jet. The colonies, on the other hand, were spread over such a large area that in the 1780’s it took weeks for representatives to get to the Continental Congress. And what did someone in a New England colony have in common with a southern plantation owner in Georgia using slaves? Each colony had its own militia and there were shooting episodes between them, as well as divisive border and trade disputes. Nonetheless, as a result of visionary leadership and after fierce debate, a new federal government was formed, and a new identity as Americans was forged.   We need such visionary leaders today. The debates of the 1780’s are well worth reading because the issues of independence versus interdependence are the same ones we are still debating. 10. How would you deal with countries/factions/regimes who do not agree with a World Government?
    A World Government can only work if it is accepted, rather than imposed, so presumably those who choose to stay out of it would simply not receive the benefits. If there were a rogue regime that threatened world peace, certainly that might still have to be dealt with by military means. World Federalists are generally not pacificists, and no one believes world federalism will miraculously solve all human problems. We just believe that better democratic structures are more likely to minimize the type of carnage mankind has inflicted on itself in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
11. Considering world events today, how would you make sure that countries co-operate with each other? Totally independent countries often don’t co-operate. That’s the problem. World federalists believe the best way to change this is to develop world-wide democratic institutions to make and enforce laws and rules in selective areas. The current United Nation system demonstrates that expecting all the countries of the world to voluntarily co-operate is often just an exercise in frustration and futility. The United Nations must be strengthened or replaced by a new governmental structure. 12. How would you unite traditionally different and/or opposed cultures? We have a federal government in Canada, but we are a multi-cultural society. The whole idea of federalism is to allow people to retain local customs and laws to the greatest extent possible. Problems are dealt with at the lowest possible level at which they can efficiently be solved. So we are not ‘uniting’ cultures so much as allowing different cultures and societies to live and let be. And people don’t even have to like each other – our more immediate problem is to prevent ethnic and racial mayhem through a system of enforceable law. 13. How would the World Budget be formed, allocated & enforced? Through democratic representatives and through existing and future courts. One reason the United Nations is currently so weak is that it has no independent means of raising revenues. Consequently, it depends almost entirely on the voluntary contributions of members. It is time to look beyond the nation-state for new sources of funds for global government. This might include a small tax on foreign exchange transactions, a tax on pollution or on military expenditures, or taxing use of the global commons (i.e. the seabed or the moon). 14. How would the banking system work? As mentioned, there are already international institutions that deal with banking and finance. The thrust of world federalism is to make sure these bodies are transparent, accountable, and democratic. Decisions taken should be in the best interests of the whole community and not just certain elites or regions. 15. Is there any point to having a currency system since there would be a single world economy? Whether there should be a ‘world’ currency or not is a matter of debate and is probably not central to the idea of world federalism. The European example may be instructive. There were sufficient compelling reasons for many countries to introduce the ‘Euro’ and to give up national currencies, but not all European Union countries have chosen to do so. 16. What would happen to friendly competition between nations (ie. the
Olympics)? It would continue as before. You have no trouble competing against other schools even though you are all governed by the Vancouver School Board. 17. How would a World Government be implemented, where would the capital be? In many ways world government is already underway through international trade pacts, numerous global treaties, the International Criminal Court, and regional federations such as the
European Union. To a great extent the issue is not really whether we will have a world government but whether it will be run by superpowers, large multinational corporations and elites, or whether it will be democratic and broad-based. Specific proposals to encourage democratic governance include:

As for a capital, there are probably many suitable places. The League of Nations had its capital in Geneva; the United Nations in New York.  Different democratic global institutions might have headquarters in different cities. 18. How would laws be enforced? In the best of all possible worlds, the nations of the world would be demilitarized, and would only retain police forces to uphold the law. If someone in B.C. breaks a federal law in Canada, Ottawa does not send the army into our province; they simply use the existing police forces to arrest the culprit who is tried through the court system.   This is the utopian vision. More realistically, we have to accept the existence of national forces, and improve what now exists at the world level. Did you know that the U.N has no Standing Peace Force under its own command? Every time a peacekeeping force is required, the U.N. must beg its member countries for troops. Months are often required to assemble these forces. An immediate improvement would be the creation of a Rapid Reaction Force available to the UN that could prevent the kind of genocide we recently had in Rwanda.   Another practical step has been the creation of an International Criminal Court, long promoted by the World Federalist Movement. This Court has now been ratified by 89 countries and is becoming operational. It will deal with war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Even national leaders will not be immune from prosecution.   19. What type of education system would be implemented? As education would likely remain the prerogative of national and sub-national governments, there might be no major changes. But greater emphasis might develop on the kinds of knowledge and perspectives required of people who consider themselves global citizens. 20. What languages would be recognized by the World Government? Although there are some proponents who believe there must be a new common language such as Esperanto, most World Federalists do not consider language to be a major issue. The United Nations has a system of simultaneous translation in 6 languages, and this kind of practical process would likely continue. 21. What languages would citizens be allowed to speak?
                Chacun a son gout! (Each to one’s own taste!)
 
22. How would you ensure that every citizen has a voice? The same methods that ensure democracy at the national level – such things as elections, campaign finance limits, secret ballots, referendums, Bill of Rights, independent judiciary, freedom of the press etc. We want the same democratic rights and process at the world level that we already have at the national one. 23. Would there be people who are considered non-citizens?
 
Citizens of France are also citizens of the European Union, but citizens of Monaco are not citizens of the European Union because Monaco has not joined. Similarly, there would be people who do not take on an additional level of citizenship if their country did not join a World Federal Government. They may be ‘non-citizens’ but they are not ‘non-people’ as a result. They just are not eligible to receive the additional benefits conferred by the federal government. And such benefits are the reasons the majority will join the federation and become global citizens. That’s why the Klingons, the Romulans, the Vulcans and the Cardassians voted to join the Federation!
World Federalists of Canada - Vancouver Branch


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