Chapter 6: The Idea of the World Commomwealth
6.1. Towards a world without states
The Commons' Convention discussed in the previous chapter was a concept of a representative system premised on stateless governance, but stateless governance is linked to the concept of a world without states not only in internal relations but also in external relations. In other words, it is the abandonment of the idea of a sovereign state.
In contrast, the world today is made up of a forest of sovereign states. During the era of imperialism, sovereign states were limited to the number of countries that ruled over colonies, but after two world wars, the idea of national self-determination spread, and ethnic nation-states gained independence one after another. At present, there are approximately 200 sovereign states, and the modern world resembles a vast forest of sovereign states.
As a result, the interests of each sovereign state are intricately intertwined like a deep forest with intertwining branches, often causing serious conflicts and clashes. The United Nations, which has been disciplining the international community since the end of World War II, is finding it increasingly difficult to make unified decisions as the number of member states increases, and its very raison d'être is also in doubt.
Meanwhile, as important issues that require truly global decision-making, such as global environmental issues, emerge, the sovereign state system is showing its limitations. To fundamentally change this situation, it is necessary to abandon the long-standing notion of a sovereign state. This is the idea of the World Commonwealth , which is another theme of this series.
The World Commonwealth is a new organization that goes beyond the current United Nations, which is a federation of sovereign states, and is based on the perspective of understanding the world as a single community. It is a global community made up of the Zones that reserve the right to administer themselves within a certain geographical area.
Therefore, within this community there is no concept of borders managed by barbed wire or border patrols. Since the world is truly one, in principle people can move freely around the world. A world without states is naturally a world without borders.
The English name for this global community is World Commonwealth. The word "commonwealth" has the connotation of "federation," but it is essentially "common + wealth," which can also have the economic connotation of the worldwide joint management of the common wealth of mankind.
The World Commonwealth is the highest decision-making body in transnational politics and also the core economic institution responsible for a global planned economy, so the term "commonwealth," which has doubly political and economic meanings, is pregnant with implications.
However, the official language of the World Commonwealth will not be English, but some world official language will be designated. Therefore, the official name of the World Commonwealth will also be indicated in a world official language, but for the time being, assuming that Esperanto will be designated as the language, and I would like to use Monda Komunumo as the tentative name.*
*In this case, Monda: World + Komunumo: Community, which literally implies a world community, will no longer have the connotation of the English name above.
👉The table of contents so far is here.
👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.
