|
Francisco de Vitoria Main article: Francisco de Vitoria Early father of international law, Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483 – 1546) is considered the "founder of global political philosophy." De Vitoria conceived of the res publica totius orbis, or the "republic of the whole world." This came at a time when the University of Salamanca was engaged in unprecedented thought concerning human rights, international law, an early economics based on the experiences of the Spanish Empire. Hugo Grotius Main article: Hugo Grotius Title page of the 1631 second edition of De jure belli ac pacis. De jure belli ac pacis (On the Law of War and Peace) is a 1625 book in Latin, written by Hugo Grotius (1583 – 1645) and published in Paris, on the legal status of war. It is now regarded as a foundational work in international law.[1] Grotius was a philosopher, theologian, playwright, and poet. He is known for coming up with the idea of having an international law, and is still acknowledged today by the American society of International Law. Hugo was the first child of Jan de Groot and Alida van Overschie. He was exiled from many countries, though many people had great respect for him. Immanuel Kant Painted portrait of Immanuel Kant. Immanuel Kant wrote the essay "Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch (Zum ewigen Frieden. Ein philosophischer Entwurf.) (1795)". In his essay, Kant describes three basic requirements for organizing human affairs to permanently abolish the threat of present and future war, and, thereby, help establish a new era of lasting peace throughout the world. Specifically, Kant described his proposed peace program as containing two steps. The "Preliminary Articles" described the steps that should be taken immediately, or with all deliberate speed: "No Secret Treaty of Peace Shall Be Held Valid in Which There Is Tacitly Reserved Matter for a Future War" "No Independent States, Large or Small, Shall Come under the Dominion of Another State by Inheritance, Exchange, Purchase, or Donation" "Standing Armies Shall in Time Be Totally Abolished" "National Debts Shall Not Be Contracted with a View to the External Friction of States" "No State Shall by Force Interfere with the Constitution or Government of Another State, "No State Shall, during War, Permit Such Acts of Hostility Which Would Make Mutual Confidence in the Subsequent Peace Impossible: Such Are the Employment of Assassins (percussores), Poisoners (venefici), Breach of Capitulation, and Incitement to Treason (perduellio) in the Opposing State" Three Definitive Articles would provide not merely a cessation of hostilities, but a foundation on which to build a peace. "The Civil Constitution of Every State Should Be Republican" "The Law of Nations Shall be Founded on a Federation of Free States" "The Law of World Citizenship Shall Be Limited to Conditions of Universal Hospitality" Joseph Smith Main article: Theodemocracy In early 19th century Mormon theology, Joseph Smith taught that a theodemocracy would guide and direct the Kingdom of God (Zion) on the earth during the end times. On March 11, 1844, Smith organized a Council of Fifty, who were to work under the direction of the Priesthood authorities of his church, along with a Council of Friends. This group of three organizations was expected to rule as a world government just prior to the Millennium.[2][3][4] Karl Krause [icon] This section requires expansion. (October 2009) In 1811, German philosopher Karl Krause, suggested, in an essay titled "The Archetype of Humanity", the formation of five regional federations: Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Australia, aggregated under a world republic. Alfred Tennyson In 1842, the English poet Lord Alfred Tennyson, published the oft-quoted lines "Locksley Hall": For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see / Saw a Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be /... / Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer / and the battle-flags were furled / In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. / There the common sense of most shall hold / a fretful realm in awe / And the kindly earth shall slumber / lapt in universal law. Bahá'u'lláh In the second half of the 19th century, Bahá'u'lláh founded the Bahá'í Faith, a religion which identified the establishment of world unity and a global federation of nations as a key principle.[5] He envisioned a set of new social structures based on participation and consultation among the world's peoples, including a world legislature, an international court, and an international executive empowered to carry out the decisions of these legislative and judicial bodies. Connected principles of the Bahá'í religion include universal systems of weights and measures, currency unification, and the adoption of a global auxiliary language.[6] According to Shoghi Effendi, great-grandson of Bahá'u'lláh and Guardian - spiritual leader and authoritative interpreter - of the Bahá'í community, "The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Bahá’u’lláh, implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded. This commonwealth must, as far as we can visualize it, consist of a world legislature, whose members will, as the trustees of the whole of mankind, ultimately control the entire resources of all the component nations, and will enact such laws as shall be required to regulate the life, satisfy the needs and adjust the relationships of all races and peoples. A world executive, backed by an international Force, will carry out the decisions arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature, and will safeguard the organic unity of the whole commonwealth. A world tribunal will adjudicate and deliver its compulsory and final verdict in all and any disputes that may arise between the various elements constituting this universal system". [7] In his many scriptures and messages addressed to the most prominent state leaders of his time, Bahá'u'lláh called for world reconciliation, reunification, collective security and the peaceful settlement of disputes. Many of the most fundamental Bahá'í writings address the central issue of world unity, such as the following: "The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens".[8] The Bahá'í faith is considered to have in excess of 5 million followers.[9] Ulysses S. Grant [icon] This section requires expansion. (October 2009) Ulysses S. Grant commented, "I believe at some future day, the nations of the earth will agree on some sort of congress which will take cognizance of international questions of difficulty and whose decisions will be as binding as the decisions of the Supreme Court are upon us".[10] During Second World war, Wendell Wilkie expanded on this notion in his book One World. Harry Truman U.S. President Harry S. Truman commented: "We must make the United Nations continue to work, and to be a going concern, to see that difficulties between nations may be settled just as we settle difficulties between States here in the United States. When Kansas and Colorado fall out over the waters in the Arkansas River, they don't go to war over it; they go to the Supreme Court of the United States, and the matter is settled in a just and honorable way. There is not a difficulty in the whole world that cannot be settled in exactly the same way in a world court". -- President Truman's remarks in Omaha, Nebraska on June 5, 1948, at the dedication of the War Memorial.[11] International Peace Congress Main article: International Peace Congress [icon] This section requires expansion. (October 2009) Starting in 1843, International Peace Congresses were held in Europe every two years, but lost their momentum after 1853 due to the renewed outbreak of wars in Europe (Crimea) and North America (American Civil War). International organizations Main article: International organizations Emblem of the International Committee of the Red Cross. International organizations started forming in the late 19th century – the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863, the Telegraphic Union in 1865 and the Universal Postal Union in 1874. The increase in international trade at the turn of the 20th century accelerated the formation of international organizations, and, by the start of World War I in 1914, there were approximately 450 of them. Support for the idea of establishing international law grew during that period as well. The Institute of International Law was formed in 1873 by the Belgian Jurist Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, leading to the creation of concrete legal drafts, for example by the Swiss Johaan Bluntschli in 1866.[citation needed] In 1883, James Lorimer published "The Institutes of the Law of Nations" in which he explored the idea of a world government establishing the global rule of law. The first embryonic world parliament, called the Inter-Parliamentary Union, was organized in 1886 by Cremer and Passy, composed of legislators from many countries. In 1904 the Union formally proposed "an international congress which should meet periodically to discuss international questions". League of Nations Main article: League of Nations See also: Fourteen Points The League of Nations (LoN) was an inter-governmental organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920. At its largest size from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members. The League's goals included upholding the Rights of Man, such as the rights of non-whites, women, and soldiers; disarmament, preventing war through collective security, settling disputes between countries through negotiation, diplomacy, and improving global quality of life. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a fundamental shift in thought from the preceding hundred years. The League lacked its own armed force and so depended on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions and economic sanctions and provide an army, when needed. However, these powers proved reluctant to do so. Lacking many of the key elements necessary to maintain world peace, the League failed to prevent World War II. Hitler withdrew Germany from the League of Nations once he planned to take over Europe. The rest of the Axis powers soon followed him. Having failed its primary goal, the League of Nations fell apart and eventually was transformed into the United Nations. The League of Nations consisted of the Assembly, the Council, and the Permanent Secretariat. Below these were many agencies. The Assembly was where delegates from all member states conferred. Each country was allowed three representatives and one vote. Nazi Germany Further information: New Order (Nazism) and Lebensraum The ruling Nazi Party of 1933-1945 Germany envisaged the ultimate establishment of a world government under the complete hegemony of the Third Reich.[12] In its move to overthrow the post-World War I Treaty of Versailles Germany had already withdrawn itself from the League of Nations, and it did not intend to join a similar internationalist organization ever again.[13] In his desire and stated political aim of expanding the "living space" (Lebensraum) of the German people by destroying or driving out "lesser-deserving races" in and from other territories dictator Adolf Hitler may have devised an ideological system of self-perpetuating expansionism, in which the expansion of a state's population would require the conquest of more territory which would in turn lead to a further growth in population which would then require even more conquests.[12] In 1927 Rudolf Hess relayed to Walter Hewel Hitler's belief that world peace could only be acquired "when one power, the racially best one, has attained uncontested supremacy". When this control would be achieved, this power could then set up for itself a world police and assure itself "the necessary living space.... The lower races will have to restrict themselves accordingly".[12] Atlantic Charter Main article: Atlantic Charter Winston Churchill's edited copy of the final draft of the Atlantic Charter. The Atlantic Charter was a published statement agreed between the United Kingdom and the United States. It was intended as the blueprint for the postwar world after World War II, and turned out to be the foundation for many of the international agreements that currently shape the world. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the post-war independence of British and French possessions, and much more are derived from the Atlantic Charter. The Atlantic charter was made to show the goals of the allied powers during World War II. It first started with the United States and Great Britain, and later all the allies would follow the charter. Some goals include access to raw materials, reduction of trade restrictions, and freedom from fear and wants. The name, The Atlantic Charter, came from a newspaper that coined the title. However, Winston Churchill would use it, and from then on the Atlantic Charter was the official name. In retaliation, the Axis powers would raise their morale and try to work their way into Great Britain. The Atlantic Charter was a stepping stone into the creation of the United Nations. [icon] This section requires expansion. (October 2009) United Nations Main article: United Nations Emblem of the United Nations. World War II (1939–1945) resulted in an unprecedented scale of destruction of lives (over 60 million dead, most of them civilians), and the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Some of the acts committed against civilians during the war were on such a massive scale of savagery, they came to be widely considered as crimes against humanity itself. As the war's conclusion drew near, many shocked voices called for the establishment of institutions able to permanently prevent deadly international conflicts. This led to the founding of the United Nations in 1945, which adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Many, however, felt that the UN, essentially a forum for discussion and coordination between sovereign governments, was insufficiently empowered for the task. A number of prominent persons, such as Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Bertrand Russell and Mohandas K. Gandhi, called on governments to proceed further by taking gradual steps towards forming an effectual federal world government. The United Nations main goal is to work on international law, international security, economic development, human rights, social progress, and eventually world peace. The United Nations replaced the League of Nations in 1945, after World War II. Almost every internationally recognized country is in the U.N.; as it contains 193 member states out of the 196 total nations of the world. The United Nations gather regularly in order to solve big problems throughout the world. There are six official languages: Arabic, English, Spanish, Russian, French, and Chinese. The United Nations is also financed by some of the wealthiest nations. The flag shows the Earth from a map that shows all of the occupied continents. World Federalist Movement Main article: World Federalist Movement This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2013) The years between the conclusion of World War II and 1950, when the Korean War started and the Cold War mindset became dominant in international politics, were the "golden age" of the world federalist movement. Wendell Wilkie's book One World, first published in 1943, sold over 2 million copies. In another, Emery Reves' book The Anatomy of Peace (1945) laid out the arguments for replacing the UN with a federal world government and quickly became the "bible" of world federalists. The grassroots world federalist movement in the US, led by people such as Grenville Clark, Norman Cousins, Alan Cranston and Robert Hutchins, organized itself into increasingly larger structures, finally forming, in 1947, the United World Federalists (later renamed to World Federalist Association, then Citizens for Global Solutions), claiming membership of 47,000 in 1949. Similar movements concurrently formed in many other countries, leading to the formation, at a 1947 meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, of a global coalition, now called World Federalist Movement. By 1950, the movement claimed 56 member groups in 22 countries, with some 156,000 members. Garry Davis In France, 1948, Garry Davis began an unauthorized speech calling for a world government from the balcony of the UN General Assembly, until he was dragged away by the guards. Mr. Davis renounced his American citizenship and started a Registry of World Citizens, which claimed to have registered over 750,000 people in less than two years. Opinion polls carried out by UNESCO in 1948-1949 found world government favored by a majority of respondents in six European countries and rejected in three other countries (Australia, Mexico and the United States).[citation needed] On September 4, 1953, Davis announced from the city hall of Ellsworth, Maine the formation of the "World Government of World Citizens" based on 3 "World Laws" — One God (or Absolute Value), One World, and One Humanity.[14] Following this declaration, mandated, he claimed, by Article twenty one, Section three of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he formed the United World Service Authority in New York City as the administrative agency of the new government. Its first task was to design and issue a "World Passport" based on Article 13, Section 2 of the UDHR. To date, over 800,000 of these documents have been issued to individuals worldwide. They have been recognized de facto by over 180 countries.[15] World Passport The World Passport is a 45-page document issued by the World Service Authority, a non-profit organization,[16] citing Article 13, Section 2, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. World Passports have reportedly been accepted on a de facto case-by-case basis by over 174 countries and, at one time or another, on an explicit, legal or de jure basis by Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Mauritania, Tanzania, Togo and Zambia. The latest edition of the World Passport, issued January 2007, is an MRD (machine readable document) with an alphanumeric code bar enabling computer input plus an embedded "ghost" photo for security, printing overcovered with a plastic film. The passport is in 7 languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese and Esperanto. Two covers are available: "World Passport", and "World Government Passport" (for registered World Citizens), ("passport" is in 7 languages on both covers). Duration is 8 years, 5 years or 3 years. Other documents issued by WSA are a World Birth Certificate (Art. 1, UDHR), a World Political Asylum Card (Art. 14, UDHR), a World Marriage Certificate, (Art. 16, UDHR) and a World Identity Card, (Art 21,3, UDHR). Each passport is numbered and each page has the World Citizen logo in the background. There are two pages for affiliation with companies, organizations, and firms. There are nineteen visa pages in the passport. In the back cover there are spaces for personal information such as a person’s home address.[17] Legal Realism (1954) Main article: E. Adamson Hoebel Legal anthropologist E. Adamson Hoebel concluded his treatise on broadening the legal realist tradition to include non-Western nations:[18] “Whatever the idealist may desire, force and the threat of force are the ultimate power in the determination of international behavior, as in the law within the nation or tribe. But until force and the threat of force in international relations are brought under social control by the world community, by and for the world society, they remain the instruments of social anarchy and not the sanctions of world law. The creation in clear-cut terms of the corpus of world law cries for the doing. If world law, however, is to be realized at all, there will have to be minimum of general agreement as to the nature of the physical and ideational world and the relation of men in society to it. An important and valuable next step will be found in deep-cutting analysis of the major law systems of the contemporary world in order to lay bare their basic postulates – postulates that are too generally hidden; postulates felt, perhaps, by those who live by them, but so much taken for granted that they are rarely expressed or exposed for examination. When this is done – and it will take the efforts of many keen intellects steeped in the law of at least a dozen lands and also aware of the social nexus of the law – then mankind will be able to see clearly for the first time and clearly where the common consensus of the great living social and law systems lies. Here will be found the common postulates and values upon which the world community can build. At the same time the truly basic points of conflict that will have to be worked upon for resolution will be revealed. Law is inherently purposive". End of the Cold War (1991) While enthusiasm for multinational federalism in Europe incrementally led, over the following decades, to the formation of the European Union, the onset of the Cold War (1946–1991) eliminated the prospects of any progress towards federation with a more global scope. The movement quickly shrank in size to a much smaller core of activists, and the world government idea all but disappeared from wide public discourse. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, interest in a federal world government and, more generally, in the global protection of human rights, was renewed. The most visible achievement of the world federalism movement during the 1990s is the Rome Statute of 1998, which led to the establishment of the International Criminal Court in 2002. In Europe, progress towards forming a federal union of European states gained much momentum, starting in 1952 as a trade deal between the German and French people lead, in 1992, to the Maastricht Treaty that established the name and enlarged the agreement that the European Union (EU) is based upon. The EU expanded (1995, 2004, 2007, 2013) to encompass, in 2013, over half a billion people in 28 member states. Following the EU's example, the African Union was founded in 2002 and the Union of South American Nations in 2008. Caliphate Main articles: Caliphate, Islamism, and Islamic revival Historically, the Caliphate was established by the followers of the Prophet Muhammad in Medina after his death in 632. Abu Bakr, an associate of the prophet, was selected as the first Caliph or "successor";[19] hence the term Caliphate. Abu Bakr called himself the prophet's deputy and the leader of Muslims. He and the three Caliphs selected after him shunned any pretensions to royalty but later on ruling dynasties came into existence and ruled until the end of the Ottoman Caliphate that came after its defeat in the First World War along with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire by, inter alia, Britain, France and Russia in 1918. During the intervening centuries, the Islamic Caliphate's authority expanded to encompass regions in Europe, Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia and northern Africa. These territories were ruled under Islamic law. The Caliphate was abolished by the Turkish National Assembly under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1924.[20] |
About us|Jobs|Help|Disclaimer|Advertising services|Contact us|Sign in|Website map|Search|
GMT+8, 2015-9-11 21:58 , Processed in 0.233405 second(s), 16 queries .
