Tackling the
twin challenges of global terrorism and climate change is currently a threat to
our way of life and common humanity .Never before have so many nations and
their leaders so frequently and so openly admitted their growing vulnerability
and the need for collaboration and increase interdependence; never before have
they created so many cooperative frameworks and elaborate mechanisms for
managing these complex phenomenon and its consequences. Simultaneously however,
national leaders and their supporters continue to insist on the sovereign
independence of their states with the expectation that the intricate web of
regional or global cooperative links will serve their separate interests. It is
the belief of this author that the best way of managing our current global
crisis is by a global constitutional arrangement along side the
current state arrangement that expresses our common humanity.
The
history of humanity has been a battle of failed political and religious
Ideologies.In 1961, the
French theologian Gabriel Vahanian argued that modern secular culture in most
of Western Civilization had lost all sense of the sacred, lacked any
sacramental meaning, and disdained any transcendental purpose or sense of
providence, bringing him to the conclusion that for the modern mind, "God
is dead". This might be an extreme position by Vahanian but there is
no disputing the fact that extreme religion is a part of the
problem and will never be a part of a global constitutional settlement.
Francis
Fukuyama is an American Political Scientist of Japanese descent. He
is best known for his book, The End of History and the Last Man (1992), which
argued that the worldwide spread of liberal democracies and free market
capitalism of the West and its lifestyle may signal the end point of humanity's
sociocultural evolution and become the final form of human government. One of
the problem with liberal democracy is its ability to create a handful of
billionaires and abject poverty of the masses in one go. Many believe that Adam
Smith’s promised trickle-down effect is similar to the transcendental
promise of the return of Allah and Christ in sync.
Those who
argue in favour of Socialist utopian concept as a driver for a
new world constitution takes the position that liberal capitalism is a
regressive, backwards system given modern civilizations' current level of
technological and economic development, and regardless of how progressive
capitalism becomes, it cannot meet the needs of the majority of the population
and solve its inherent structural issues. The problem with socialism is that it
has not delivered on its promise of liberating the masses and espouses the
rights of the state apparatus at the expense of individual liberty.
Furthermore, China and Russia two former Socialist giants have been so busy
resource grabbing on the global stage and creating a hybrid form of capitalism,
their socialist credentials are highly problematic.
In the near
future it is going to be vital to reach a international consensus if we are to
address problems which affect humanity as a whole such as climate change, world
poverty and global terrorism. One possible way of achieving solidarity is
through a codified global constitution that is binding on all the world’s
states and their citizens. Human Rights as expressed in a trans-legal
arrangements is the best means for safeguarding the well being of all on
the planet. Human Rights committed to diversity, and respect for those of
differing yet humane views. Human Rights Treaties and Legislation after the
Second World War have shaped a decent world view and normative humanitarian
values that is necessary to maintain peace and global stability. Human
Rights through its progressive Regional constitutional frame work and the
United Nations holds hope as a template for shaping the future world governance
in an even handed and sustainable way.
Wrestling the
balance of power away from the meddling hands of
war warmongering politicians. Is our only hope of shaping a world
that upholds the equal enjoyment of human rights and civil liberties in an
open, global constitutional arrangement. Human Rights encourage the maintenance
of world peace and a credible civic duty to participate in a global democratic
process. Human Rights Laws that are 'jus cojens' and emphasise a planetary duty to
protect nature's integrity, diversity, world peace and beauty in a secure,
sustainable manner.
In order for
Human Rights to triumph on the global stage nationalism has to go under the
guillotine. As the content and subjective reach of nationalism depends upon
primordial sentiments that are for the most part crude and rather divisive.
Equally regressive, is the burgeoning of political tribes that operate
alongside extreme religiously entrenched polarisations that constantly threaten
world peace. The proposition of global constitutional arrangement underpinned
by human rights in my opinion, suggest the advantages of constructing, new
"state" global federations.
This
therefore would enable an atmosphere in which sovereign states would cooperate
in far reaching ways to tackle common problems of terrorism, fair trade and
other pressing environmental problems in a comprehensive and uniformed way. I
envisage such an order occurring in collaboration with ‘a low concentration’
–yet potentially a trail blazing new arrangement of global governance. If
properly shaped by a reformed United Nations and an effective oversight
mechanism on board, this new arrangement could produce a new global order. One
that is better able to preserve transnational legality, protect rights and
allow for a far reaching but respectful political autonomy that will lead to a
much safer world.
Donovan Reynolds is a Secular Humanist,
Human Rights Campaigner and a Independent Writer. Please feel free to use the
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