History of world democracy

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This page is about the history of the initiatives, the projects and the ideas concerning World democracy. At the moment, there are only extracts of other texts.

There is also a page about the history of democracy and a page about the history of World Democracy in French.

In November 1791 - after deliberating carefully and getting assurances that the US Constitution would be amended by a Bill of Rights - citizens of the newly independent State of North Carolina ratified it and joined the US federation, some 16 months after citizens of eleven of the thirteen original American states had brought the American Federation into existence by transferring some powers to the new federal government

One hundred fifty years later, in 1941, thanks to the farsighted Robert Humber, Dean of the University of North Carolina Law School, the state House of Representatives unanimously and the Senate by a 45-5 vote passed (a) Joint Resolution for a Declaration of the Federation of the World.

http://www.dwfed.org/pp_nc_res.html (14.11.2005)

In 1949 California World Federalists, led by their President Alan Cranston and Executive Director Bob Walker lobbied Democrats and Republicans in both houses of the California Legislature and secured the following resolution:

(...) WHEREAS, Several nations (Italy, India, France) have recently adopted constitutional provisions to facilitate their entry into a world federal government by authorizing a delegation to such a world federal government of a portion of their sovereignty to endow it with powers adequate to prevent war; now, therefore be it
Resolved, By the Assembly and Senate of the State of California, jointly, that application is hereby made to the Congress of the United States, pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of the United States, to call a convention for the sole purpose of proposing amendment of the Constitution to expedite and insure the participation of the United States in a world federal government, open to all nations, with powers which, while defined and limited, shall be adequate to preserve peace, whether the proposed charter or constitution of such world federal government be presented in the form of amendments to the Charter of the United Nations, or by world constitutional convention, or otherwise; and be it further

(...)

http://www.dwfed.org/pp_cal_resolution.html (14.11.2005)
Between 30th December 1950 and 5th January 1951, the first Peoples' World Convention (PWC) was held in Geneva, Switzerland, in an attempt to realize the age-old dream of establishing world peace through world law. All nations throughout the world were called up to hold elections and send delegates to the PWC, with a view of drafting a democratic world constitution that would then be presented to the United Nations and all national governments for ratification.
Four people were actually elected by the time the convention opened - in the case of the State of Tennessee by the voters of this US-State (by virtue of a state law), and in the case of Nigeria by Tribal Chiefs (since Nigeria was then a British colony). Bills had been put before several national parliaments (in France, Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, Netherlands, and others), asking them to decide on the possibility of relinquishing part of their national sovereignty in favour of a world authority-to-be.
http://www.peace.ch/geneva/concept.htm (12.11.2004)
The word ‘cosmopolitan’, which derives from the Greek word kosmopolitês (‘citizen of the world’), has been used to describe a wide variety of important views in moral and socio-political philosophy. The nebulous core shared by all cosmopolitan views is the idea that all human beings, regardless of their political affiliation, do (or at least can) belong to a single community, and that this community should be cultivated.
(...)
Whether Socrates was self-consciously cosmopolitan in this way or not, there is no doubt that his ideas accelerated the development of cosmopolitanism and that he was in later antiquity embraced as a citizen of the world. In fact, the first philosopher in the West to give perfectly explicit expression to cosmopolitanism was the Socratically inspired Cynic Diogenes in the fourth century bce. It is said that "when he was asked where he came from, he replied, ‘I am a citizen of the world [kosmopolitês]’" (Diogenes Laertius VI 63). By identifying himself not as a citizen of Sinope but as a citizen of the world, Diogenes was refusing to agree that he owed special service to Sinope and the Sinopeans. So understood, ‘I am a citizen of the cosmos’ is a negative claim, and we might wonder if there is any positive content to the Cynic's world-citizenship.
(...)
3.1 Political cosmopolitanism
It is often argued that it is impossible to change the current nation-state system and to form a world-state or a global federation of states. This claim is hard to maintain, however, in the face of the existence of the United Nations, the existence of states with more than a billion people of heterogeneous backgrounds, and the experience with the USA and the EU. So in order to be taken seriously, the objection must instead be that it is impossible to form a good state or federation of that magnitude, i.e., that it is impossible to realize or even approximate the cosmopolitan ideal in a way that makes it worth pursuing and that does not carry prohibitive risks. Here political cosmopolitans disagree among themselves. On one end of the spectrum we find those who argue in favor of a strong world-state, on the other end we find the defenders of a loose and voluntary federation, or a different system altogether.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cosmopolitanism/ (11.12.2004)

Jeremy Bentham (1748 - 1832).
Bentham's essay "A Plan for a Universal and Perpetual Peace" was published a year after his death in The Principles of International Law, but he wrote it in 1789. Bentham declared that the whole world is his domain and that the press is his only tool. Everyone suffers from war, and the wise consider it the chief cause of suffering. Bentham's plan has two main propositions-to reduce military forces in Europe and to emancipate colonies. He emphasized the importance of a peace proposal, even if the world is not ready for it, because in that case there is a great need for ideas on peace. He asked for the prayers of Christians, and for the welfare of all civilized nations he had three goals-"simplicity of government, national frugality, and peace."
Bentham's essay "A Plan for a Universal and Perpetual Peace" was published a year after his death in The Principles of International Law, but he wrote it in 1789. Bentham declared that the whole world is his domain and that the press is his only tool. Everyone suffers from war, and the wise consider it the chief cause of suffering. Bentham's plan has two main propositions-to reduce military forces in Europe and to emancipate colonies. He emphasized the importance of a peace proposal, even if the world is not ready for it, because in that case there is a great need for ideas on peace. He asked for the prayers of Christians, and for the welfare of all civilized nations he had three goals-"simplicity of government, national frugality, and peace."
Bentham proposed that it is not in the interest of Great Britain or France to have colonies, alliances, nor a large navy. Perpetual treaties ought to limit troops and establish a common court of judicature to decide differences. However, Bentham was clearly pacifistic in stipulating that the court not be armed with coercive powers. As he stated later on, he relied upon the power of public opinion. For this reason he was especially perturbed by the secrecy of British foreign affairs, such that he had to read the Leyden Gazette to get any news about British diplomacy, as there was none in the home press. Therefore he argued strongly against secrecy in international relations. He also complained that newspapers always took the side of their own nation. "It is that we are always in the right, without a possibility of being otherwise. Against us other nations have no rights."
http://www.san.beck.org/GPJ15-Rousseau,Kant.html (12.11.2004)

Last Modified 4/17/07 6:46 PM