Many of today's problems are too huge and complex for one country or region to solve alone. A World Federation will be more effective in tackling our toughest challenges.
The World Federalist Movement began in the aftermath of World War II as a way to prevent war and solve conflicts non-violently. Over the past few decades we’ve come to understand that our major problems are global but our institutions and laws are inadequate to solve them. Current movements and events such as the Arab Spring, Occupy, Los Indignatos, and others highlight the need to bring democracy to those who do not have it and protect it for those who have. A World Federation is the ideal structure to ensure both.
Following the horrors of World War II, the idea of a World Federation was first proposed as a way to prevent future wars and resolve conflicts peacefully. The idea is simple. In a nation with a Federal government, when states, provinces, and similar local governments have disputes with each other they take those conflicts to their Federal Courts where they are resolved non-violently. What if today's nations became states in a single global Federation? They too could resolve their conflicts non-violently by bringing them to a Global Federal Court.
Over the past few decades, civilization has reached a point where our major problems are now global -- including war, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, famine, climate change, overpopulation, poverty, pandemics, and nuclear accidents. However, our institutions have not kept pace with these threats. Nations propose treaties to handle international problems, but these treaties are often resisted by some nations, diluted during negotiations by others, and broken by a few -- and when this happens there is little or no means of enforcement! Even when nations work together to address a crisis, responses can be very slow while tens of thousands die. A democratically elected World Federation will be a more effective way to address a wide range of global problems than our current system of international treaties, laws and institutions.
Current movements around the globe are bringing attention to the effects that globalization and multi-national corporations are having on the planet and its people. While these developments have benefited some, they have also harmed others and damaged our environment. Many of these institutions have little oversight or accountability to anyone but their shareholders. A World Federation will pass and enforce global laws to protect people, profits and the environment.
A World Federation will address global issues in much the same way as Federal Governments address problems within a nation. Whether its structured more like a Parliamentary or Presidential system, each with its advantages and disadvantages, or some new form, it will be up to the people of the world to decide.
As Einstein said, “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” A World Federation applies a different kind of thinking that’s ideal for addressing many of today’s seemingly insoluble problems.
