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Evolutionary World Government

A Pragmatic Approach to Global Federation

James A. Yunker

Although the Cold War came to an end more than a quarter century ago, the United States and the Russian Federation still deem it essential to their national interests to maintain nuclear arsenals capable of crippling global human civilization. Several other countries maintain significant nuclear capabilities. As much as we shrink from acknowledging it, the fact remains that the current international status quo is dangerously unstable. Yet there are no proposals being considered at the present time that are sufficiently bold to make a significant difference, and yet sufficiently sensible to command respect.
Evolutionary World Government breaks free of the conventional preconceptions that are hobbling the human imagination at this critical moment in our history. The book describes and evaluates a comprehensive, fully innovative plan for improving the prospects of global human civilization as we confront an uncertain future. The economic aspect of the plan is the initiation of a worldwide economic development effort tentatively designated the Global Marshall Plan, while the political aspect of the plan is the foundation of a limited federal world government tentatively designated the Federal Union of Democratic Nations.
The key element underlying this pragmatic approach to international harmonization is the discarding of the traditional world federalist ideal of the “omnipotent world state,” and its replacement with the objective of a properly limited federal world government that would allow the free departure of member nations from the federation, and would also permit member nations to exercise independent control over their own military forces. In the long run, these reserved national rights would become irrelevant reminders of the distant past, but in the short run they are vital to the initial formation of a global federation that would eventually, through gradual evolutionary processes, become a highly authoritative—yet fully democratic and benign—world government.

Hamilton Books

Pages: 354 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-0-7618-6991-7 • Hardback • January 2018 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-0-7618-6992-4 • eBook • January 2018 • $105.50 • (£82.00)

Subjects: Political Science / International Relations / Diplomacy, Political Science / Public Policy / Economic Policy, Business & Economics / Public Relations, Business & Economics / Government & Business, Political Science / International Relations / General

Evolutionary World Government

A Pragmatic Approach to Global Federation

Hardback

Summary

Although the Cold War came to an end more than a quarter century ago, the United States and the Russian Federation still deem it essential to their national interests to maintain nuclear arsenals capable of crippling global human civilization. Several other countries maintain significant nuclear capabilities. As much as we shrink from acknowledging it, the fact remains that the current international status quo is dangerously unstable. Yet there are no proposals being considered at the present time that are sufficiently bold to make a significant difference, and yet sufficiently sensible to command respect.
Evolutionary World Government breaks free of the conventional preconceptions that are hobbling the human imagination at this critical moment in our history. The book describes and evaluates a comprehensive, fully innovative plan for improving the prospects of global human civilization as we confront an uncertain future. The economic aspect of the plan is the initiation of a worldwide economic development effort tentatively designated the Global Marshall Plan, while the political aspect of the plan is the foundation of a limited federal world government tentatively designated the Federal Union of Democratic Nations.
The key element underlying this pragmatic approach to international harmonization is the discarding of the traditional world federalist ideal of the “omnipotent world state,” and its replacement with the objective of a properly limited federal world government that would allow the free departure of member nations from the federation, and would also permit member nations to exercise independent control over their own military forces. In the long run, these reserved national rights would become irrelevant reminders of the distant past, but in the short run they are vital to the initial formation of a global federation that would eventually, through gradual evolutionary processes, become a highly authoritative—yet fully democratic and benign—world government.

Details

Hamilton Books

Pages: 354 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-0-7618-6991-7 • Hardback • January 2018 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-0-7618-6992-4 • eBook • January 2018 • $105.50 • (£82.00)

Subjects: Political Science / International Relations / Diplomacy, Political Science / Public Policy / Economic Policy, Business & Economics / Public Relations, Business & Economics / Government & Business, Political Science / International Relations / General

Author

James A. Yunker is professor of economics at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois. Author of a dozen books and approximately 90 articles in the professional literature, his special interest is in subjecting controversial policy issues to balanced, reasoned analysis.

Table of Contents

Salvation or Damnation?
Neither Utopia nor Dystopia
Outline of the Essay

A Pragmatic Blueprint
Need for Specificity
Federal Union Fundamentals
Major Issues
	Representation and Voting
	National Right of Secession
	National Right of Armament
	Supernational Armament Authority
	Religion and Language
	Trade and Migration
A Complementary Proposal
	The Economic Problem
	A Global Marshall Plan

Brief History of World Federalism
Origins and Development
	The League of Nations
	The United Nations
The Postwar World Government Boom
The Cold War and Beyond
	Postwar Blueprints
	Since the Soviet Collapse

Brief History of Socialism
Early Development
	Karl Marx’s Codification
	The Great Schism
The Soviet Era
	Stalin’s Dictatorship
	Western Attitudes
The Post-Soviet Era
	Socialism in China

Learning from the Past
Evolution – Not Revolution
Origins of Evolutionary Socialism
	Bernstein’s Contribution
	World War I and After
Application to World Government

Could It Be Done?
The Chicken or the Egg?
The Nationalism Issue
	Sovereignty and Freedom
	Internationalist Tendencies
The Heterogeneity Bugaboo
	Religion

Should It Be Done?
A Scientific Approach
Global Governance
A New World Order?
The Boat Metaphor

Prospects
Summary of the Essay
Weighing the Risks
No Plausible Scenario?

Notes
Index
About the Author

Evolutionary World Government

A Pragmatic Approach to Global Federation

James A. Yunker

Evolutionary World Government

A Pragmatic Approach to Global Federation

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