Where is the Greater Patriotism, the Greater Good?

Pax America, Pax Europa or Pax Humanitas?

By Dr. John O. Sutter

Throughout history there has been a slow but definite evolution of the human community from hostile tribes to tribal coalitions, from internecine principalities to unitary nation-states, and gradually from warring nation-states to federal unions. America and Europe are the two leading examples.
American Federation
In the 1770s and 1780s American leaders like George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Wilson and Benjamin Franklin led an informal "American Federalist Movement" to develop their country's government, which passed through two stages. In the first, the 13 relatively isolated British colonies cooperated in fighting for freedom from the perceived tyranny of King George III. Under a treaty of friendship, they formed the United States of America as a loose league, or confederation, of independent states, where "patriots" looked first after the welfare of their particular state.
In line with historical experience, as soon as the common enemy no longer threatened, the states, claiming sovereignty, soon began bickering among themselves, carrying on economic warfare and, in certain cases, even shooting over territorial claims.
The second stage led by American federalists soon followed. The widely perceived impotency of the American confederation led Virginian and Pennsylvanian patriots to look "out of the box," to consider matters above and beyond their particularistic interests and imagine a greater, common good. By 1788 eleven of the congeries of bickering American states, having ratified the federal Constitution, created a new federal union. In fact, the sovereign citizens -- electors-- through referenda in the form of popular conventions voted to distribute their powers to govern themselves between governments of their respective states and the federal union. This was achieved in the face of much opposition and inertia.
After a civil war (started by leaders who were, for example, Virginian and Carolinian patriots first) the U.S.A. was confirmed as a federal union by those who considered themselves American patriots first. From that time forward, being free of inter-state strife, Americans have been able to develop the U.S.A. into a country where the people of all the constituent units could benefit and consider themselves patriotic citizens.
European Federation
In Europe after World War II, France and Germany, where the "patriotic" leaders of two warring nations had fought for generations, agreed to bury the hatchet under a plan devised by Robert Schumann, whose homeland had been fought over by French and German rulers for three centuries. With strong support by French Premier Jean Monnet, who had worked in the League of Nations headquarters and learned from its failures, and by German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and advocacy by Italian Professor Altiero Spinelli, the Coal and Steel Community was founded starting with their 3 countries plus Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxemburg). This grew (while numerous parallel European institutions were formed, such as the European Council and the Office for Security and Cooperation in Europe) into the European Economic Community, the European Community, and (since 1993) the European Union (EU).
Citizens of the E.U.'s member states for years have directly elected Members of the E.U. Parliament. Now a federal constitution has been drafted (although because of British ultra-sensitivities the term "federal" may not appear in official print), and a veritable United States of Europe -- with 29 member states -- is in the process of formation. This is occurring, in the face of opposition often by nationalist politicians and bureaucrats, fear of a larger community by some of the populace, and inertia. The newly sovereign citizens of countries of Eastern Europe have agreed to delegate some powers of government to the expanding E.U., as the citizens -- patriots -- of formerly squabbling countries are realizing the benefit of living in a larger community, a union, in which a Pax Europa is replacing the attitude of "my country above all others" and "to hell with the rest."
World Federation
In such democratic federal unions, the people -- sovereign citizens -- may participate in choosing the government of their respective political units, from the local to the district, province, country, on to the supranational or continental level. And, as Emery Reves exhorted in The Anatomy of Peace over a half-century ago, on to the global level.
During World War II, world government groups arose in the United States and United Kingdom, and young activists in the Student Federalists championed the formation of a federal union at the global level, to which former colonies would be admitted, despite a major democratic deficit in most of them.
Unfortunately, the movement for a democratic global federal union went into the deepfreeze in the face of the Cold War launched by the Soviet dictator Stalin, who called the World Federalists "Fascists." On the other hand, the other Joe, the reactionary Senator McCarthy tried to label the World Federalists "Communists."

Following the collapse of the Soviet Russian Empire in the early Nineties, Europe and the world faced the challenge of moving their constituencies towards democratic federal unions -- always in the face of particularistic politicians who feared sharing the powers of government with the citizens of other, often neighboring, countries for a government of, by, and for the entire European and world communities.

Europe has been fortunate in having an influential movement -- the Union of European Federalists -- and its dynamic JEF (Young European Federalists) in the vanguard to promote European patriotism and European citizenship and Pax Europa through a true European federal union.

What the people of the world need now is to rise above the static conception of a United Nations as a looseleague or confederation of competing -- often to the point offighting -- sovereign nation-states. What the world needs now is world patriotism and world citizenship leading to Pax Humanitas. Happily, the UEF is ready to affiliate with the World Federalist Movement to help it to make a democratic federal world union, a goal worth promoting sooner rather than later.