The book ‘Parliament of Man - The United Nations and the Quest for World Government’ by British historian Paul Kennedy was published in the United States in 2006. The work was recognised as a comprehensive and clearly written introduction to the history, issues and problems of the UN. However, the title was somewhat overstated, as the United Nations is of course not a parliament of man, even if the ‘We the Peoples’ in the preamble to the UN Charter suggests it is. The reference to the ‘Quest for World Government’ obviously met with disapproval, which is why the subtitle for the second edition of the book was changed to ‘The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations’. In fact, there is no further reference to anything like a world government in the entire text of the book. Only the world federalists are mentioned once in a parenthesis, because they were one of the NGOs that were allowed to submit their proposals in the run-up to the founding of the UN. However, as the outcome of the negotiations and the foundation showed, this was without any significant success.
If serious world citizens imagine a politically united mankind, then this should be realised in the form of a democratic world federation, which can also be more simply described as a world union. The European Union can be an example of this. The nations remain as they are. They only surrender as much sovereignty to the world union as it needs to fulfil its global tasks. All of this must be regulated by a world legal order that is binding for all.
Nobody in their right mind would want a world empire under a world emperor, a centralised world state or even a world dictatorship. Such a thing would hardly be feasible. See my article ‘Global empire or federal world union?’. Voluntary agreement and the globalisation of democracy are paramount. Of course, a democratic world order also includes the regulation of power through the separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches, as is already successfully practised in functioning democracies around the globe.
It should therefore be clear that mankind needs a world parliament whose members are directly elected by the people. Otherwise it would not be a real democracy. Such a world parliament would be responsible for creating a global legal system that applies equally to all, which would then be implemented by a world administration (a more appropriate term than world government) and on the basis of which supranational courts could pass judgement. This is the only way to effectively and sustainably organise a politically united mankind, global justice and lasting world peace.
Due to the inadequate role of the UN from the outset, various concepts for a world parliament emerged after the Second World War, but most of them sank into insignificance over time. One example of this is the World Parliament according to the draft constitution of the World Constitution and Parliament Association (WCPA). Attempts to realise this through a provisional world parliament have so far failed due to the often unrealistic approach of its protagonists. Similarly, the Congress of Peoples, which emerged from the groups around the World Citizens Register in Paris, lacks any political relevance. But more on that later.
In contrast, the UNPA campaign takes a more favourable and now much-noticed position. It aims to reform and further develop the United Nations. As a first decisive step, the initiators propose the establishment of a consultative parliamentary assembly at the United Nations, without this requiring a change to the UN Charter. The next goal to be pursued would be the development of a world legislature consisting of two chambers: The world parliament directly elected by the world's citizens and the already existing UN General Assembly representing national governments.
Literature: Jo Leinen / Andreas Bummel
A World Parliament: Governance and Democracy in the 21st Century
This path is certainly very difficult. The creation of a world parliament will be a complex process that should not be unnecessarily complicated. There are many concrete and useful proposals, but also many that seem unrealistic. The idea of including direct democratic procedures sounds progressive, but is unlikely to be feasible on a global level for the time being. There is not enough time for dubious experiments. For the time being, mankind will have to make do with parliamentary democracy, which would already be a huge step forward for the globalisation of democracy.
The legal organisation and regulation of a world parliament is ultimately left to experts. This would logically require a revision of the UN Charter and a fundamental reform of the UN. This is where things start to get really difficult, as there is currently no sign of any willingness to reform the United Nations. The current world situation makes any progress impossible. Even with a majority of reasonable UN member states, the veto powers and their satellites would block everything. Sooner or later, civil society NGOs will realise that they are unlikely to succeed with their efforts at the UN. See my article: ‘What does consultative status at the United Nations mean?’.
That is why I am convinced that the thematically oriented groups and organisations of civil society should join together to form a new coalition, the United Mankind Initiative. The aim would be to establish a new world organisation, the United Mankind Organisation, as a counterpart to the United Nations. This would of course be a major challenge and involve a great deal of work. But what sense does it make to continue wasting energy in a hamster wheel if there is no success in sight? With United Mankind, all progressive proposals and projects could be realised. This would also include a directly elected world parliament as the General Assembly of United Mankind. The aforementioned Congress of Peoples can serve as a model for this.
Just imagine the positive influence a United Mankind Organisation could have on states, the United Nations and world politics! But first a start would have to be made.