Summary

hide

Reflecting a Weltanschauung different from one with a concept of
sovereignty and its consequences found in many circles, there follows a
utopist concept of sovereignty and, derived therefrom, views on self-
government and a democratic, federal system for governing the world.

After the Reformation broke the totalitarian control of the Papacy, and
the Renaissance restored knowledge of Greek democracy and the Roman
republic, the Enlightenment helped shift the focus of sovereignty from
the monarch to his government and the nation-state.

These developments contributed to the American Revolution and the
creation of the modern democratic federation based on First Principles
-- the sovereign authority of the citizens to create and alter
governments and constitutions. Shortly afterwards, the French
Revolution produced the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen.

The notion that nation-states were sovereign persisted throughout the
20th Century and was written into the United Nations Charter in 1945.
However, that same year, Emery Reves's The Anatomy of Peace
proclaimed that the sovereign people, who had delegated power
to their governments of polities at different levels, could also
delegate it to a government of the world.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, some World Federalists (part of
a global movement since World War II), called for promoting the concept
of the sovereign citizen. The American body produced a definition of a
sovereignty that was not absolute and that was vested in the citizens,
in both unitary states and federations. A committee of the global body
emphasized that one could be a citizen of communities at different
levels and ultimately of the Earth. Philadelphia II promoted a
national initiative through First Principles that would restore the
long-neglected lawmaking powers of the citizen.

In contrast to the democratic concept of the sovereign citizen, tyranny
remains a fact of life and death in the contemporary world. This has
led to calls by an increasing number of world leaders for finding a
means to deal with international criminals, especially those who are
dictators, and to promote the awareness of individual sovereignty.

The prototype of democratic federations in America and emerging in
Europe provide models for a solution to wars and other global problems
-- a democratic, federal system of governing the world.

15 August 2001