War, Peace and World Government

Throughout human history, when law and order breaks down, some people take advantage of others. They fight, steal, and make life miserable for everyone else.  The name for this situation – when there is no law and order – is anarchy.
  

When people organize into larger groups, like nations, a similar dynamic occurs.  If there is no law governing the behavior of groups, there is war.
  

 In our world today, people are divided into nations. Within  nations there is relative peace, because laws govern the relationships among people and among groups of people. Between nations it has been a different story.  Nations have always fought against one another as soon as their interests came into conflict. The reason is simple:  there is nothing to stop them from fighting.   Treaties have been tried, but treaties are meant to be broken.  As Will Rogers once said:  “Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘nice doggie’ while you look around for a rock.”  
  

History teaches us that the way to peace always goes through law. Cities within states may disagree, but they do not fight.  States within countries may disagree, but they do not fight.  All of the wars now are between nations, because there is no higher law governing their behavior.
  

What about the United Nations?   As presently constituted, the U.N. has no real authority.  The only ‘authority’ in today’s world is the power of the United States .  Anarchy among nations is very dangerous. Recognizing this, the United States has established what some people call a Pax Americana.
  

This Pax Americana is visible for anyone to see.  We have military bases in every corner of the globe. We outspend the entire rest of the world on weapons, many times over.  We impose standards of behavior on other nations.  We try to prevent wars and to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Much of what we do, it has been argued, is good.   
  

Many in the United States feel that America is the ‘last, best hope for the world’.  They believe America is an exceptional force for good in the world.  We must lead, because no other country has the capability, the will or the moral character to do it.  
 

Others have a quite different view.  Noam Chomsky, for instance, argues that America uses its power cynically, to advance its own self-interest. I believe the truth is somewhere in between these two views.
 

There are, however,  three fundamental problems with the Pax Americana.
  

First, it cannot last forever.  America is running crushing budget deficits, which will only get worse in the near future.  At some point within the next ten years or so, something will have to give.  We will no longer be able to afford to police the world, and there will be a vacuum. Who will fill that vacuum?  As previously argued, the United Nations does not have the power or the authority.  Perhaps China will be strong enough by then. How would Americans view the prospect of a Made-In-China version of world order?  Not a comforting prospect, to say the least.
 

A second, more basic issue is that people on this earth have not consented to be governed by America , whatever our intentions might be.  According to basic democratic principles, government derives its legitimacy from the consent of the people.  Without the consent of the world’s population, the United States has no legitimate authority to act as the world’s policeman.  Because of this, the U.S. often tries to persuade or compel the United Nations to “bless” its actions.  Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t.  When the U.N. will not go along with our plans, we ‘go it alone’. 

The final problem with the Pax Americana derives from the second.  Not surprisingly, some people resent the exercise of American power in the world.  In particular, many Muslims resent it.  Ever since American troops first arrived in the Middle East , there has been a backlash against us.  We have real enemies who would like nothing better than to inflict casualties on our people.  Our government has responded to this threat by conducting a permanent, worldwide ‘war on terror’.  This war on terror has led us first into Afghanistan , then into Iraq . It has cost over a trillion dollars, and alienated the Muslim world even more. There is no end in sight.
 

As a reasonable person I have to ask, is there a better way?   Is there a way to have law and order in the world – and therefore peace - without having it imposed by the United States , or by some other power, like China ?
 

There is an answer, but it is a pill we Americans don’t want to swallow.  The answer is some form of world democratic government – either a reformed United Nations or an entirely new body.  Such a government need not and should not be a dictatorship of any kind. It need only have the power to deal with truly global problems – like war, trade, terrorism, global warming, and poverty.  Checks and balances could be built in,just they are built in to our own constitution.   

Sounds good, you might say, but the devil is in the details. Can it work?   My answer is that, if we ever want to see an end to war and terrorism, we have to make it work

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