Customer Reviews

One World Democracy: A Progressive Vision for Enforceable Global Law

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This book is poised to reignite a classic discussion in world federalism that was popular in the nineteen-forties. The case for global federation is made by stating the deficiency of the antiquated nation-state system. The authors liken the current nation-state system to a form of "international anarchy," where the peace is fragile and fleeting, held together by nothing more than a loose set of easily breakable treaties, and a low tide in friction between uneven and disparate economic and ideological interests. It is made clear by this book that the absence of enforceable global law creates a fertile medium for war, ecological destruction, and other planetary woes.

A very interesting point made here is that the manifestation of some kind of world governing body is a natural and inevitable course in political evolution, which has its beginnings when the first primal families form larger tribal structures. We are being held artificially at the level of nationalism due to a primitive desire to cling to group social identity, along with the lucrative rewards that perpetual warfare and polarization bring the Machiavellian-minded elite.

Of no surprise, the failures and insufficiencies of the United Nations are made mentioned here, along with the realization that the UN has possibly outgrown its usefulness. In place of the United Nations, there are listed a number of embryonic organizations, old and new, which are dedicated to world federalism. These could prove viable alternatives to the United Nations due to the knowledge that it has a stained record in the eyes of many.

The authors do bear to mention some of the cautions and concerns of moving toward a world government - however - only briefly. This is something deserving greater attention being that there are those interests concealed from public view, who stand ready to exploit any such scenario. The writers do acknowledge that the best way to keep a world democracy or republic from descending into tyranny, is to have an ever vigilant and informed populace with a well defined Charter of Rights. A grassroots movement of the people toward world government, is stressed in this book. This should be imperative in the mind of the reader because any surreptitious design, precoordinated and handed down to the masses via the plutocratic, would probably result in the New World Order that many fear.

With that aside, I do recommend this book to all who dream of a borderless world; free of walls, passports, and relentless xenophobia. A world where we are all planetary citizens. Let us move forward with this idea - but let's move with discernment.

One World Democracy is an 'additional reading' assignment for my politcal science class. I wasn't expecting to find it quite so interesting. The author presents some very viable options for creating peace and protecting our environment. We had great classroom discussions about some of the concepts in this book.

This book presents a fabulous message, or repeats it, for it has been promoted for decades: An opportunity like no other stands before us! World federation is not our goal, it says, for that is only a means to an end - the real goal is peace and justice in the world. We can abolish wars and bloodshed from this world forever and live in a peaceful community of nations under the rule of law and a global federation and lo, the great prize is there as we look at it, free for the taking! This is no fairy tale, no castle in the sky, it is rock bottom real. If the 50 states of the Union can live pleasantly together under a federal constitution and if the forever fighting Europeans can unite in the European Union, what are the reasons the family of nations can't do the same?

The fault lies in the fact that the ordinary citizen is unaware of this unbelievable opportunity. Under the tension of the Cold War there was no surprise nobody paid attention to it, but that crisis is long gone. No wonder, there are only three reviews of this marvelous text listed six years after it was published. No one is interested. In the Appendix of the book, a speech of J. P. Barrata makes a discouraging observation. He said, yes, there is now widespread agreement about the controversies of a global constitution, giving us the way to proceed, but there exists a crisis of the mind: "Unless there is another disaster on the scale of WW II, we probably cannot expect great achievement." I hope it doesn't require that kind of a catastrophe to wake up the world.

Read this book! I insist: read this book!

The Shipwreck of a Nation: Germany: An Inside View

This is a fabulous book. It really makes you think. As I read it, the lyrics of John Lennon's song "Imagine" went through my mind. This book makes you understand how we could really have a world at peace.