The Context: In the wake of Covid-19, climate changes and other important global issues such as globalization, cold war, trade war, the world is facing several issues and the UN is nearly just seeming an audience in most of them. Hence, the demand is whether world needs a global parliament for dealing global issues. This article discusses this issue in detail.
What is World Parliament?
The world should establish parliament to resolve the global issue and making the rules for International issues such as the pandemics, stockpiles of nuclear weapons, deadly biological weapons, natural disasters, climate change, loss of control over artificial intelligence, terrorism, serious imbalances in international trade, influence, intelligence, greed for power and a host of other threats.
It is obvious that these threats cannot be tackled by any one country alone and a united action at local, regional and international levels alone can rid the world of these dangers.
The Issues faced by Mankind in Recent Time
- Amid ever-increasing threats facing humanity, it’s high time to initiate steps at the governance level to make the world a safer place for mankind.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has provided impetus to the idea of a global democratic government and underlined the necessity of a world organisation to tackle the dangers facing mankind in a more effective manner.
- These include — pandemics, stockpiles of nuclear weapons, deadly biological weapons, natural disasters, climate change, loss of control over Artificial Intelligence, terrorism and so on.
Need for the World Parliament
| Transcending the Nation-State | • There is no body that represents the interest of the world community at large. Even if a treaty is concluded and ratified, a state can withdraw again. • The international order recognizes no higher authority for decision or enforcement. |
| Social disparities between citizen | • World is witnessing the emergence of global social strata that are giving rise to vertical social tensions. The dividing line will no longer be between rich and poor countries, but between the super-rich and the rest everywhere. |
| Immigrations emerged as a major issue | • The promise of the “global village” is only valid for the rich. But for the poor peoples and minor communities of many countries facing harassment and seeking asylum in neighbor countries. As there is no world policy to resolve these issue so that they are facing many issues. |
| Addressing environmental threats | • Humanity now shares a common destiny. • The dangers posed by nuclear war, global pandemics, environmental devastation, biodiversity loss or climate change affect everybody. • Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere knows no borders. |
| Global ruling in proper way | • The supply of important public goods like food security or the stability of the financial and economic system depends on how well global structures are working. • Regulating research and development in fields such as artificial intelligence, genetics, biotechnology or autonomous weapons must be on the global agenda. • Based on the collaboration of 193 nominally sovereign states, global regulation will never work well. |
Why does World need World Parliament despite having United Nations?
Presently a world body already exists known as United Nations Organization (UNO). Formed after world war II in 1945 to prevent and eliminate recurrence of wars and to maintain peace all over the world, it was also mandated in broader terms to look after some aspects of areas like economic, social and cultural development.
| PAST RECORD OF UN | • The Organisation has been beneficial to mankind in many ways, but looking back at its record during last over seventy-five years of its existence, there is not much to feel proud about. • Soon after its formation in 1945, it had to face cold war between the western Block and the Soviet Block headed by former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(USSR) which lasted till collapse of Soviet Block in 1991. • It could not prevent local and regional wars in Korean peninsula, Asia, Africa and even in Europe and Latin America. • It could not stop Chinese aggression against India in 1962 and Cuban missile crisis between the then Soviet Union and USA. • Mostly because of cold war politics and its attitude, it failed to take bold united action. • Its response to natural disasters and epidemics at national or international level also fell far short of its expectations. |
| THE ISSUE OF REPRESENTATION | • Apart from cold war politics, other main causes responsible for its failure to meet expectations have been lack of its full representative character and its failure to reform itself. • Also,it has not restructured itself to keep up with needs of changing world. • Under these circumstances its attitude towards enormous problems and threats and deviant forces facing mankind has been almost inflexible. • Despite repeated calls by many countries it has more or less continued with its inequitable representative character. • A glaring example of this has been that India with over 1.38 billion population which constitutes about eighteen per cent of total world population has no permanent representation on its most important decision making organ UN Security Council. • While more basic structural changes in the Organisation will take years and years if not decades, it has to reform itself urgently to make itself fully representative to tackle the pressing problems. • Urgency of such a step can also be gauged by the fact that last year in June out of 192 votes cast in UN General Assembly,184 countries voted in favour of India for two-year non-permanent membership of UNSC which started from January this year. • The world body has also to change its responses so that threats facing the mankind are attended to promptly. |
| BIASED NATURE | • In a world full of diversities and ideological differences, such an institution will have to be free from biases and prejudices and will have to transcend the diversities and differences to acquire a truly representative and independent profile. • But it is evident in recent past and in past seventy-five years that UN is facing biasness issue. It took actions against small country but against powerful countries it peaceful appeal had no impacts. |
| AN OLD CONCEPT | • One of the key challenges of modern cultural evolution is the time lag between rapid technological development and slow political adaptation. • The United Nations that represents the best governance model humanity could come up with for the management of global affairs is now frozen in time. • Its underlying principle of national sovereignty goes back to 1648, a hundred years before the industrial revolution even started. • Today we live in the 21st century, the world population is approaching eight billion and technological development continues to accelerate. • The need for global governance to catch up with the accelerating pace of change is more urgent than ever before. |
How the Global Parliament should work for better outcomes?
- In a world full of diversities and ideological differences, such an institution will have to be free from biases and prejudices and will have to transcend the diversities and differences to acquire a truly representative and independent profile.
- The parliament of the world body could be elected directly by proportional representation based on population of each member nation or nation state.
- The challenges facing mankind as also the matters of economic and financial governance can be dealt with in a far better way by a Global Parliament.
- Such an institution will strengthen democracy, justice and equity throughout the world and help in curbing fundamentalist and the radical ideologies.
- Proper attention to all threats facing mankind could ensure safety and survival of intelligent life on earth. But for realising it, the member countries will have to shed a few shades of their sovereignty which could democratically authorise and enable such a World Government to prevent deadly nuclear and biological wars at the local, regional or at international levels.
- At present, there are already scores of organisations in Africa, America, Europe and elsewhere, and some of these are popularly elected.
Way forward
- The idea regarding the deep structural changes to turn the UN into a democratic World Government, will take more time to come somewhat into shape.
- Moreover, in a world full of diversities and ideological differences, such an institution will have to be free from biases and prejudices and will have to transcend the diversities and differences to acquire a truly representative and independent character.
- Recently, with advancements in human civilisation and thought, the necessity for such a global institution has been felt immensely at various stages.
- After deeper restructuring of the existing world body, contours for a democratic World Government can be established and Parliament of the world body could be elected directly by proportional representation based on population of each member nation.
Conclusion: The experience of democratic regimes teaches us that no parliament can govern a country alone. A government is necessary. So the World Parliament must be seen as a crucial milestone on the way toward forming a democratic government endowed with the necessary powers to enforce the laws approved by the World Parliament.
Questions to Ponder
- What are the issues faced by world in contemporary times? Discuss the need for a global parliament to address these issues.
- How far do you agree with the view that despite having a global body like United Nations, the world need a global parliament to govern the global issues?
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