The Fantasy of World Government

Make no mistake about it, says Professor Bems, a world government, if it comes about, will be a world despotism to be bought at the price of ‘ending the old ways and the old faiths.’

It seems to me that the devotees of world government have minimized the difficulties involved; yet the experience of one of the major organizations devoted to the cause, the United World Federalists, points up these difficulties in a dramatic fashion. The members of the organization met and agreed, as one of them later reported, that “a global government able to enforce law (in the sense of ‘domestic law’) on individual violators was necessary… and… possible… [and] that the only practicable form for such a world government Was the federal form.” But the members disagreed sharply on how to bring the world federation about, how to name the founding members, how to delegate powers to it. The members became “enraged,” accused each other of “political immaturity,” and demanded that the charters of affiliated groups be revoked. Finally a deep schism left the parent organization with only half of its membership. The group that sought to unite the world could not even remain united itself.

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Walter Berns

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Make no mistake about it, says Professor Bems, a world government, if it comes about, will be a world despotism to be bought at the price of ‘ending the old ways and the old faiths.’

It seems to me that the devotees of world government have minimized the difficulties involved; yet the experience of one of the major organizations devoted to the cause, the United World Federalists, points up these difficulties in a dramatic fashion. The members of the organization met and agreed, as one of them later reported, that “a global government able to enforce law (in the sense of ‘domestic law’) on individual violators was necessary… and… possible… [and] that the only practicable form for such a world government Was the federal form.” But the members disagreed sharply on how to bring the world federation about, how to name the founding members, how to delegate powers to it. The members became “enraged,” accused each other of “political immaturity,” and demanded that the charters of affiliated groups be revoked. Finally a deep schism left the parent organization with only half of its membership. The group that sought to unite the world could not even remain united itself.