The Utopian World Championship

Ph.D. John O. Sutter: Sovereignty, Self-Government and Global Government-A World Federalist Perspective

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Summary

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

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WORLD FEDERALIST WORLD VIEWS
Such democratic and global ideas contributed directly in the decade of the Nineties to three major pronouncements by activists in different groups of World Federalists. Already during World War II the Student Federalists in the United States had called for a radically different democratic world government. Subsequently, in 1947, several American groups merged into the United World Federalists (now the World Federalist Association-W.F.A.). Also in 1947 the U.W.F. and World Federalists in Canada, Western European, and Asian countries became affiliated with the World Movement for World Federal Government (now the World Federalist Movement-W.F.M.). However, the momentum for a democratic federalist global campaign was soon stalled as Stalin, the dictator of the Soviet Union, launched the Cold War by forcibly occupying East-Central Europe and imposing Communist governments, while labeling the World Federalists as Fascists. Fortunately, at the start of the Nineties, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, who himself came to advocate a form of democratic world government,(6) brought about the ending of the Cold War (and the inadvertent collapse of the Soviet Union and its empire in Eastern Europe). Now, for the first time in a half-century the realization of two goals appeared possible, namely, implementing throughout the world the 18th Century concept of sovereignty vested in the People, and planning for the world itself to be democratically governed.
I. In 1997, in an effort to move from the conventional wisdom that sovereignty is absolute and lies in the nation-state, the W.F.A. issued an updated definition: "SOVEREIGNTY-The authority to form and change the government of a state or other political unit and to govern it in internal and external affairs," limited by generally accepted moral principles, the civil rights of people, customary international law, and applicable international treaties (including the United Nations Charter. Although rulers of unitary authoritarian states and empires may claim sovereign powers over their subject populations, in democratic states or other self-governing political units, sovereignty is "the legitimate authority of the citizens, who may exercise their powers to govern (i) directly, as in small units or, more usually (ii) indirectly, by delegating and entrusting powers to their representatives and officials in accord with a constitution." In democratic federal systems, sovereignty is "the legitimate authority of the citizens, who delegate, entrust, and distribute powers among the governments of the central union, and the member political units in accord with a federal constitution.(7)
II. A committee of the World Federalist Movement, whose members came from a dozen countries on four continents, drafted in 1998/99 a statement of principles on Federalism and the Right of People to Self-Government. Among the principles it proposed were: "The source of sovereignty - legitimate authority to govern - is the citizens, who associate together and delegate and entrust powers outward to institutions of government in increasingly larger communities. In a federal system, powers are distributed to governments of communities at different levels... "Each inhabitant may be a citizen not only of smaller communities but also ultimately of the Earth's polity. Citizens have a right to democratic government and to participation, either directly or through freely chosen representatives, in the governments of their respective communities..." "Indispensable elements of democracy include periodic free and fair elections, by secret ballot, with universal suffrage for adult citizens and regulation of campaign financing, equality before the law and an independent judicial system, civilian control of the military, freedom of belief, speech, and assembly, and free media. Also desirable are: separation of the state and religious authorities, limited terms of office of officials (appointed as well as elected), widely available education, the initiative, referendum, and recall, and ombudsmen to assure accountability of officials, protect human rights and safeguard against corruption. "An oppressive ruler often insists that his/her regime is 'sovereign' with license to rule the subject people, immune from 'interference in its internal affairs' by the outside world. However, having been usurped from the people, his/her power is illegitimate. Thus the world community through the United Nations should feel obligated to find a means to restore to the oppressed people their basic rights. In a democratic world federation the rights of all groups would be safeguarded, precluding the rise of tyrants."(8)
III. A public benefit corporation founded early in the Nineties in California primarily by World Federalists, Philadelphia II by 2000 was promoting the National Initiative for Direct Democracy. Following First Principles-the authority of the people to create, alter, and dissolve their governments-as exercised by the Framers of the Federal Constitution (in Philadelphia I) and by the ratifying conventions, Philadelphia II has drafted the Direct Democracy Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Direct Democracy Act. The Preamble of the latter proclaims: "We, the People of the United States inherently possess the sovereign authority and power to govern ourselves. We asserted this power in our Declaration of Independence and in the ratification of our Constitution through the exercise of First Principles..."(9) The proposed law would reform and extend the initiative process to all jurisdictions within the United States. Comparable direct democracy movements are at work in other countries, especially in Europe. It follows that First Principles can be construed to apply universally.

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