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60-501: World federalism is distinguished from unitary world government models by the principle of subsidiarity , where decisions are made as much as possible at the most immediate level, preserving national agency to a large degree. Proponents maintain that a world federation offers a more effective and accountable global governance structure than the existing United Nations organization, while simultaneously allowing wide autonomy for continental, national, regional and local governments. Unlike

120-434: A Provisional World Parliament have been held under the framework of this constitution from 1982 to the present and have passed dozens of acts of legislation on issues of global concern. Debate around world government falls into four broad categories, which is often applied also to world federalism : The establishment of a world federation would require extraordinary amounts of coordination and trust from all nations of

180-721: A General Assembly Resolution, where the United Nations recognizes IPU as the world organization of parliaments. Pursuant to this resolution, the Secretary-General submitted a report which was noted with appreciation by the General Assembly, who requested further strengthening of cooperation and another report. This report detailed the measures that had been taken, including opening a liaison office in New York, and cooperation on issues such land-mines and

240-522: A session of the United Nations General Assembly, where he gave a short speech before being escorted out of the hall: "I interrupt you in the name of the people of the world not represented here. Though my words may be unheeded, our common need for world law and order can no longer be disregarded. We, the people, want the peace which only a world government can give. The sovereign states you represent divide us and lead us to

300-439: A way that both are sovereign within their respective sphere of competence. Albert Einstein grew increasingly convinced that the world was veering off course. He arrived at the conclusion that the gravity of the situation demanded more profound actions and the establishment of a " world government " was the only logical solution. In his "Open Letter to the General Assembly of the United Nations" of October 1947, Einstein emphasized

360-474: A world government. Proposals for a world government can be found as far back as Ancient Greece, India and China, mostly tied to a mystical cosmology. Alexander the Great pursued the goal of conquering the entire known world and subjugating it under his rule. World governments in various forms later appeared in the works of Dante Alighieri , Immanuel Kant , Anacharsis Cloots and Johann Gottlieb Fichte , where it

420-731: A year either in Geneva or hosted by Member Parliaments. Any proposal to amend the Statutes shall be submitted in writing to the Secretariat of the Union at least three months before the meeting of the Assembly. The Secretariat will immediately communicate all such proposals to the Members of the Union. The consideration of such proposed amendments shall be automatically placed on the agenda of

480-399: Is a union of sovereign nations, which are pursuing a common cause. Member states in a confederation are sometimes free to secede from the confederation. In a federation based on subsidiarity, nations choose to give up their sovereignty over global issues they cannot manage to a central authority empowered to manage these issues at the global level. Sovereignty over national issues remains with

540-570: Is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability , and cooperation among its members; other initiatives include advancing gender parity among legislatures, empowering youth participation in politics, and sustainable development . The organization was established in 1889 as the Inter-Parliamentary Conference . Its founders were statesmen Frédéric Passy of France and William Randal Cremer of

600-645: Is an example of a unitary state. Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland have a degree of autonomous devolved power, but such power is delegated by the Parliament of the United Kingdom , which may enact laws unilaterally altering or abolishing devolution. Similarly in Spain , the devolved powers are delegated through the central government. Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union ( IPU ; French : Union Interparlementaire , UIP )

660-465: Is no salvation for civilization, or even the human race, other than the creation of a world government.- Albert Einstein , Letter to World Federalists, Stockholm Congress, 1949 Einstein and other prominent figures sponsored the Peoples' World Convention (PWC), which took place in 1950-51 and later continued in the form of world constituent assemblies in 1968, 1977, 1978-79, and 1991. This effort

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720-415: Is subsidiary to local in that it only does what local government cannot. Plans that sought to unify the known world by conquest have historically aimed at a centralized, unitary government, rather than a federal government. World federalists generally do not support violent paths towards a world federation (see World Federalism § Current proposals for establishing a world federation ) A confederation

780-485: The League of Nations by establishing a federal world government as an effective means to abolish war. Such a democratic world government would represent the interests of the world's people, rather than merely the national interests of member states. The pamphlet "Chaos, War or a New World Order?" (1937) outlines the campaign's approach to put the demands into practise: a World Constitutional Convention would be held to lay

840-514: The Napoleonic Wars , and to the world through the vast French colonial empire . Unitary states stand in contrast to federations , also known as federal states . A large majority of the UN member countries , 166 out of 193, have a unitary system of government, while significant population and land mass is under some kind of federation. A unitary system of government can be considered to be

900-753: The Student Federalists in 1942. The organization's success prompted Newsweek to predict he would become President of the United States. The 1943 book One World by the Republican Wendell L. Willkie about his world tour through the Allied countries became an instant bestseller, further promoting the concept of world federalism and decolonisation to a wider audience. The publication of Emery Reves ' The Anatomy of Peace in 1945, translated into thirty languages, further popularised

960-538: The United Kingdom , who sought to create the first permanent forum for political multilateral negotiations. Initially, IPU membership was reserved for individual parliamentarians , but has since transformed to include the legislatures of sovereign states. As of 2020, the national parliaments of 180 countries are members of the IPU, while 13 regional parliamentary assemblies are associate members. The IPU facilitates

1020-589: The United Nations , an organization with which it cooperates and with which it has permanent observer status. The headquarters of the union have been moved several times since its inception. Locations: Eight leading personalities of the IPU have received Nobel Peace Prizes : At its founding on 30 June 1889, the Inter-Parliamentary Conference had eight members: Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Liberia, Spain, and

1080-578: The World Government of Citizens in his hometown of Ellsworth in 1953. The movement for world federalism has declined from its peak in the 1950s, due to a lack of funding and successors for the activists who founded the original world federalist organizations. Major active world federalist organizations include World Constitution and Parliament Association (WCPA) , Citizens for Global Solutions and Democracy Without Borders . The World Federalist Movement/Institute for Global Policy acts as

1140-517: The 50th anniversary of the United Nations, in 1995, by holding a special session in the General Assembly Hall before the start of the session, where they planned for closer cooperation with the United Nations. The General Assembly Resolution passed during that session requested the Secretary-General to put this into action. An agreement was signed between the IPU and the Secretary-General on 24 July 1996 and subsequently ratified by

1200-505: The Assembly. Any sub-amendments shall be submitted in writing to the Secretariat of the Union at least six weeks before the meeting of the Assembly. The Secretariat will immediately communicate all such sub-amendments to the Members of the Union. After hearing the opinion of the Governing Council, expressed through a simple majority vote, the Assembly shall decide on such proposals by a two-thirds majority vote. The IPU marked

1260-583: The IPU Secretariat, as often and fully as possible, particularly in its annual reports, as to the steps taken and the results obtained. As it can be seen on the map, mostly all the countries in the world have a parliament member of IPU, with the notable exception of the United States, although the 12th (1904), the 23rd (1925) and the 42nd (1953) conferences were hosted in the US. The participating parliamentary assemblies other than national parliaments are

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1320-437: The IPU allowed for circulation of official IPU documents in the General Assembly. UN and the IPU cooperate closely in various fields, in particular peace and security, economic and social development, international law, human rights, and democracy and gender issues, but IPU has not obtained the status of UN General Assembly subsidiary organ. The fourth world conference on UN 70th anniversary marked by Ban Ki-Moon as " UN70 "

1380-495: The Massachusetts Committee for World Federation. The organization was renamed to World Federalists, USA (1960s), World Federalists Association (1970s) and then Citizens for Global Solutions , which is active to this day. In 1949, six U.S. states — California, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, New Jersey, and North Carolina — applied for an Article V convention to propose an amendment "to enable the participation of

1440-507: The Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland were to form the seed for a democratic world republic. A world congress, made up of a House of Representative and a Senate should decide on matters related to defence, trade and currency. During World War II , multiple other world federalist organizations were founded, especially in the United States. Inspired by Clarence Streit 's Union Now , Harris Wofford Jr. founded

1500-563: The Prime Minister of Armenia who had just at that time been killed by gunmen ), and passed a resolution requesting the IPU be allowed to address the Millennium General Assembly directly. Following another report, and another half-day debate, the General Assembly welcomed the IPU declaration entitled "The Parliamentary vision for international cooperation at the dawn of the third millennium" and called for

1560-686: The Red Cross , the Telegraphic Union , the Universal Postal Union and the Inter-Parliamentary Union with the goal of serving as "an international congress which should meet periodically to discuss international questions". The Campaign for World Government was founded in 1937 by pacifists and feminists Rosika Schwimmer and Lola Maverick Lloyd . The campaign aimed to learn from the weaknesses of

1620-621: The Secretary-General to explore new and further ways in which the relationship could be strengthened. On 19 November 2002 the IPU was granted observer status to the General Assembly. In the Resolution 59/19, Cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union , the UN General Assembly takes note of the recommendations in regard to engaging parliamentarians more systematically in

1680-543: The States a higher degree of power and freedom in which countries preserve their sovereignty, relinquishing to the federal authority only the powers to manage and regulate intergovernmental relationships. The European Union can be considered an example of such system of government, because its Member States preserve their sovereignty even though they relinquish part of it to the community's authorities in specific matters. World federalism has evolved from more general proposals for

1740-458: The United Kingdom. The United States also attended but did not formally adopt the treaty of arbitration. The Inter-Parliamentary Union currently has 180 members. It is the duty of the Members of the IPU to submit the resolutions of the IPU within their respective Parliament, in the most appropriate form; to communicate them to the Government; to stimulate their implementation and to inform

1800-442: The United Nations organization is reserved for states, not individuals (see World Citizenship ). A unitary world government would consist of a single, central government body with supreme sovereignty. While administrative subdivisions might exist, their powers are delegated by the central government. In a world federation based on subsidiarity, the delegation is the other way round, from local to central. Global federal government

1860-459: The United Nations was first planned. The rise of nationalism and the growing threat of fascism in Europe caused a resurgence of the idea of a unified world under democratic principles. With the release of the book Union Now , Clarence Streit proposed a political union of democratic nations. The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, France, Belgium,

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1920-406: The United States in a world federal government". Multiple other state legislatures introduced or debated the same proposal. These resolutions were part of this effort. During the 81st United States Congress (1949-1952), multiple resolutions were introduced favoring a world federation. In 1948, Garry Davis entered a meeting of the newly founded United Nations General Assembly, in which a vote on

1980-497: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was expected to fail due to conflicts of national interests. He ripped his US passport, declared himself "World Citizen Number One" and asked for asylum in the United Nations, whose assembly hall had been declared international territory for the duration of the meeting. He was promptly arrested. After his release, Davis and several supporters founded "Operation Oran", entering

2040-438: The abyss of total war. I call upon you no longer to deceive us by this illusion of political authority. I call upon you to convene forthwith a World Constitutional Assembly to raise the standard around which all men can gather, the standard of true peace, of One Government for One World." Prominent people, such as Albert Camus , André Breton , Albert Schweitzer and Albert Einstein publicly supported Garry Davis, fueling

2100-597: The central government may alter the statute, to override the decisions of devolved governments or expand their powers. The modern unitary state concept originated in France ; in the aftermath of the Hundred Years' War , national feelings that emerged from the war unified France. The war accelerated the process of transforming France from a feudal monarchy to a unitary state. The French then later spread unitary states by conquests , throughout Europe during and after

2160-497: The core of world federalism, which are commonly seen as safeguards against tyranny and oppression in nation states. Realizing the inherent risks of the concentration of power, world federalists advocate a vertical separation of powers between different levels of government ( subsidiarity ), horizontal separation of powers between different government branches ( checks and balances ), democratic participation , and constitutionally enshrined human and civil rights . Critics argue that

2220-500: The development of international law and institutions, strengthening the foundations and enhancing the vision for peace and the common good, including the Permanent Court of Arbitration , the League of Nations , and the United Nations . It also sponsors and takes part in international conferences and forums, and has permanent observer status at the United Nations General Assembly . Consequently, eight individuals associated with

2280-428: The establishment of a world federal government is the crucial problem of our time. Until it is solved, all other issues, whether national or international, will remain unsettled. It is not between free enterprise and planned economy, nor between capitalism and communism that the choice lies, but between federalism and power politics. Federalism alone can assure the survival of man. The United World Federalists emerged as

2340-517: The following: The organs of the Inter-Parliamentary Union are: The Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments is a consultative body of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The Assembly is the IPU's main political body through which the IPU's Member Parliaments adopt parliamentary resolutions on global issues. It plays a pivotal role in addressing the issues which threaten peace, democracy and sustainable development, including through its four thematic standing committees. IPU Assemblies are held twice

2400-399: The further development of the annual parliamentary hearing at the United Nations and other specialized parliamentary meetings in the context of major United Nations meetings as joint United Nations-Inter-Parliamentary Union events . Every year during the fall session of the General Assembly the IPU organises a Parliamentary Hearing. A resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and

2460-599: The groundwork for a Federation of Nations with democratic elections. The pamphlet further includes several policy suggestions, e.g., universal membership, direct representation, separation of powers, abolition of military forces, standardization of an international date system, the peaceful transfer of people out of population-dense regions, and a combined global free-trade and command economy. Advocacy tactics involved congressional testimony, lobbying of legislators, national letter-writing campaigns, and participation in world government conferences. The campaign succeeded in motivating

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2520-534: The idea and was publicly endorsed by Albert Einstein . In 1947, the Committee to Frame a World Constitution was founded, releasing " The Preliminary Draft of a World Constitution " in 1948. Also in 1947, over 50 world federalist organizations formulated the Montreux Declaration, encapsulating the demands of the world federalist movement in light of WWII: We world federalists are convinced that

2580-496: The main advocacy group for world federalism in the United States after WWII. The United World Federalists was a non-partisan, non-profit organization with members in forty-eight states, founded in Asheville , North Carolina on February 23, 1947, as the result of a merger of five existing world government groups: Americans United for World Government; World Federalists, U.S.A.; Student Federalists; Georgia World Citizens Committee; and

2640-507: The more generic concept of world government, world federalism describes a specific form of global governance, i.e., that of a federal, democratic world republic. The difference between world federalism and other types of global governance are outlined below. The United Nations is not a legislative body and is thus limited to a mostly advisory role. Its stated purpose is to foster cooperation between existing national governments rather than exert authority over them. Furthermore, membership of

2700-431: The most undesirable outcomes, world federalism instead is a realistic extension of the proven concepts of rule of law and liberal democracy to the global level. Critics argue that a concentration of power on a global level would raise the risks and probability of tyranny, deterioration of human rights, and cultural homogenization. Proponents of world federalism point out that democratic and republican principles are at

2760-451: The nation. Different forms of federalism can be applied at the global level. Traditional federalism is the model adopted by the United States, in which the States relinquish their sovereignty to the federal government, which in turn represents them in front of other nations. It constitutes a centralized model of world federalism. The most decentralized model of world federalism is the confederation of States, or world confederalism, which gives

2820-510: The opposite of federalism . In federations, the provincial/regional governments share powers with the central government as equal actors through a written constitution , to which the consent of both is required to make amendments. This means that the sub-national units have a right to existence and powers that cannot be unilaterally changed by the central government. Italics : States with limited recognition from other sovereign states or intergovernmental organizations . The United Kingdom

2880-482: The organization are Nobel Peace Prize laureates . The organisation's initial objective was the arbitration of conflicts. The IPU played an important part in setting up the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague . Over time, its mission has evolved towards the promotion of democracy and inter-parliamentary dialogue. The IPU has worked for establishment of institutions at the inter-governmental level, including

2940-412: The practical implementation of world federalist goals. A comprehensive analysis and a roadmap to world federalism is presented in the book World Federalist Manifesto, Guide to Political Globalization, in which the author presents a model of world federalism divided into international legislative, executive, judicial and financial branches and the world government shares the authority with Member States, in

3000-457: The problems world federalism proposes to solve (e.g. climate change, war, pandemics, hunger) are too big to be solved by political means only, i.e. even if a world federation existed, it would not be capable of alleviating these issues. World federalists argue that these issues originate from the insistence on national sovereignty and the lack of democratic structures at the global level. Effective global governance could therefore deal directly with

3060-431: The promotion of representative democracy. Following an entire morning of debate the General Assembly passed a resolution which simply stated that it "looks forward to continued close cooperation". The following year (1999) the Secretary-General reported on an increased number of areas of cooperation, the issue was debated for an entire afternoon (interrupted by a minute of silence held for tribute to Vazgen Sargsyan ,

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3120-444: The resolution at the 1938 New York State Constitutional Convention encouraging President Roosevelt to call a world constitutional convention , and several Congressional resolutions and bills, including the "Alexander Peace Bill" (H.J.R. 610, 76th Cong. (1940)), and the "Tenerowicz Peace Bill" (H.J.R. 131, 77th Cong. (1941)). The organization was also one of the few independent observers of the 1944 Dumbarton Oaks conference at which

3180-537: The root cause of these problems. Unitary state List of forms of government A unitary state is a state or sovereign state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority. The central government may create or abolish administrative divisions (sub-national or sub state units). Such units exercise only the powers that the central government chooses to delegate. Although political power may be delegated through devolution to regional or local governments by statute ,

3240-621: The sudden public interest in the idea. The first meeting of the World Citizens' Movement in Paris a month after his speech gathered 25,000 people. Garry Davis founded the World Service Authority , promoting the idea of world citizenship . Over 750,000 people from over 150 countries registered as world citizens between 1948 and 1950, and over 300 cities declared themselves as world citizen communities. Davis further founded

3300-637: The umbrella organization for world federalist advocacy, albeit its focus has shifted away from its original core issue towards projects like Responsibility to Protect and the Coalition for the International Criminal Court . There are a number of proposals for the establishment of a world federation: Reform of the UN and existing international institutions: Regional Unification: Other: Numerous books and articles have been written on

3360-439: The urgent need for international cooperation and the establishment of a world government . In the year 1948, Einstein invited United World Federalists, Inc. (UWF) president Cord Meyer to a meeting of ECAS and joined UWF as a member of the advisory board. Einstein and ECAS assisted UEF in fundraising and provided supporting material. Einstein described United World Federalists as: "the group nearest to our aspirations". There

3420-591: The work of the United Nations. The final declaration of the Second World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, hosted at United Nations headquarters, took place in September 2005, was entitled Bridging the democracy gap in international relations: A stronger role for parliament . In the Resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly, 61/6, Cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union , on 27 November 2006, it calls for

3480-494: The world, which are in economic and political competition with each other. Critics argue that world federalism is thus an unreachable utopia. Proponents of world federalism point to existential crises, such as climate change, war and pandemics, which make global coordination necessary and inevitable. An argument revolving around political realism asserts that, while conventional approaches ( diplomacy , deterrence , disarmament , international organizations, etc.) have not avoided

3540-496: Was explicitly proposed as a means to securing world peace. A world parliament as integral part of a world republic was mentioned first by Pecqueur in 1842. The idea has been popularized by a number of prominent authors, such as Alfred Tennyson , F.A. Hayek , and H. G. Wells . The late 19th century has also seen the establishment of a number of international institutions, such as the International Committee of

3600-561: Was successful in creating a world constitution , Constitution for the Federation of Earth and a Provisional Earth Federation. The Constitution for the Federation of Earth , drafted by international legal experts in 1968 and finalized in 1991, is a framework of a world federalist government, and its work today is being carried forward under the Provisional Earth Federation. Fourteen parliamentary sessions of

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