An Organizational Guide to World Government

by Robert B. Reinhardt

An organizational guide to world government

A plan to develop and nurture world unity

Robert B. Reinhardt

August 1992

Version 1_b

Abstract

The author believes that the next evolutionary step for human civilization is to establish world unity. While pondering this visionary goal, one should also continue to consider the current political reality's, so that a pragmatic plan can be designed by which to accomplish it. The proposal is essentially to form a new world government, transitioned from the best world forum that we currently have, the United Nations. The new government should be designed as a global democracy, wherein officials are elected by majority popular vote, not only by appointment of their local governments. The new government must provide all of the traditional services of government organization, maintain separation of powers between branches of government, and interact with, but not replace the existing local governments of the world. This new government will serve to bring all local governments into one common forum, and serve as a vehicle by which issues that concern the welfare of all humanity can be resolved. The methods discussed in this paper are presented as a simple guide as to how this type of government organization can be structured in order to achieve the goal of world unity.

Copyright - 1992 by Robert B. Reinhardt. Permission to copy is granted provided each copy includes this notice and is provided in its entirety without modification. This paper, as stated in the abstract, is a proposal for an organizational structure and some basic procedures, for developing a world government. This paper is not an attempt to solve all of the world's problems, or all of humanity's problems. However, it is hoped that by taking this next step, that a foundation will be built upon which together, we the people can begin to solve the world's problems and the problems of humanity.

Understanding who we are

Before we undertake this enormous effort we must first understand who we are. We need to think beyond who we as an individual are, to who we as humans are. That famous phrase "We the people ..." does not imply only to the people who immigrated to North America in the past couple centuries. It means everyone in the world. All of us can work and live together as a united people, striving for the advance of all humanity, not only competing against each other, but working together, striving toward the next mutual goal. When we design our new world government, we should build in certain inalienable rights that are endowed to everyone by virtue of being one of those people. We should also build into it, the principles of pure freedom of will. Meaning that all people in the world are treated equally by this government, regardless of where they were born, to whom they were born, what race they are, what color they are, what gender they are, and what religious beliefs that they have. To this end, there must be a clear separation of church and state, so that people who believe in the various different religions in the world can be part of this world unity and still maintain their beliefs.

It is the opinion of the author, that whenever the laws that define social order and the customs of personal religion come into conflict, that the laws of social order prevail, in order to provide a common social order that does not pick winners among the people and beliefs of the world. The concern here of course, is whether or not everyone in the world can agree to this for the greater good of all people and to maintain the social order. This point is debatable and perhaps someone will devise a better plan than mine to resolve this question. Inevitably, whatever the majority of the world's people are comfortable with, that is what is right for the direction of this new government. To my point. It is important to remember that people are different. There are the obvious differences that we have developed stereotypes around such as race, gender, religious beliefs, language, and goals of various scope. Keep in mind that the underlying reason for these differences is simply that we are just different. It sounds repetitive and trite, but we must all agree that it is natural to be different, and understand and agree to disagree from time to time. We must lay down some fundamental principles of humanity such as fairness, common sense, and equality, so that people can be different and still live together in a peaceful and cooperative manner. When we gather in groups that are called "we," remember that we are different from "them," but not so much so that we are not all human and equal in our mutual humanity. We can live with them, and they can live with us. We are already doing this because, in truth neither we or they have any choice in the matter. We just need to take this course of action so that we start doing it better. We are all bound to the same world by the same physics, and by a same biology. Characteristics vary from person to person, race to race, or culture to culture. Beneath those surfaces, we are all still part of the same humanity, one and all.

As individuals, we must come to terms with the reality that all people of the world are endowed with certain inalienable rights and responsibilities, purely by virtue of being one of those people. We may not like certain characteristics that other people from time to time exhibit, and we may not agree with the beliefs that bring them to have a particular characteristic or behavior, or we just might not like what other people say about our beliefs and characteristics. But, we must agree that all people have the same rights and responsibilities as we do, and that peaceful and respectful communication is the way to interact with each other; not by posturing, positioning, and violence. This rule applies to violence that a particular majority group might intend to inflict on a minority group. Even though the majority rules when it comes time to determine the course of events via the ballot box; everyone, including members of the majority, must respect and honor the inalienable rights of all people. To reiterate, inalienable rights and responsibilities are endowed to every individual regardless of any qualifying factor. No-one has the power to legislate that, not the majority or the minority. Because in fact, there is nothing that we can do as humanity to change those things anyway; we are all bound by those common physics and biology that are given to us and enforced upon us by the great macrocosm, regardless of whether you define this force as God or Nature. The step that we do need to take is to put those rights onto paper so that the entire world can always look back to these principles to ensure that these principles are upheld uniformly for all people.

Organizational concepts

The new United Nations organization will provide a forum for enacting legislation, administering justice, and executing the policy's of the world government. It will work with the local governments and cultures throughout the world in order to accomplish those missions, but will not replace the role of local governments in our every day lives. The roles and missions of local government will most surely change as the new United Nations matures and people the world over become to feel united as one people, rather than groups of different and competing peoples.

The new United Nations will be empowered in part by the existing framework of local government foreign policy and ambassadorship, and for the first time ever, in part by electing representatives to a world congress to legislate the policies of the new world government. The new United Nations will be restricted in its power as defined by the scope of those founding principles. The Charter of the new United Nations will be written with the following missions in mind:

Unite the people of the world through an assembly of representatives elected by a popular majority vote. Voting districts will be predetermined based upon a percentage of world population. Every adult without restriction, will have the right and responsibility to vote.

Provide global peace and a forum through which disputes between local governments and common treaties will be resolved and enforced. Local military forces will be reduced due to less need and some of those will be "reflagged" to become part of the new United Nations Armed Forces.

Enforce strict empowerment of the world's people over the world government, by ensuring that congressional representatives and judges are elected directly by the people, not by appointment. This is described in greater detail in the sections below.

Strive for the common welfare of all the people of the world, by ensuring that basic necessities are equally available to all people throughout the world, such as basic food, shelter, health, and education.

Organizational structure

When formulating a design for how to achieve world unity one must consider the elements that are needed to hold the hundreds of diverse cultures together. In addition to the common denominator of humanity itself, an efficient and fair government must be implemented in order to maintain the underlying principles and world order, to apply basic policies of human rights and human welfare, equally around the globe.

I propose a partially democratic model, based upon majority rule that goes farther than the USA's system does to preserve empowerment of and by the people and separation of powers, with more effective checks and balances. The only way to ensure that government stays the course and operates effectively by the will of the people, which empower it to begin with, is to ensure that a popular vote of all people is used to determine who shall serve in the highest offices in all branches of government. The people themselves will police the bureaucracy and the individuals that they put into power by deciding whether or not those individuals should remain in power. The diverse base of people from which the representatives around the world are drawn from, should in itself serve to bring almost everyone's interests in one way or another to the table of discussion when legislation is being considered by the world congress.

No branch of government will have the power to influence the nomination, appointment, or election of officials in any other branch of government. One way that this plan differs from the USA system is that we have defined really only two branches of government; legislative and judicial. The reasoning is that we never want to give any sort of absolute power to an individual that would traditionally be called "president" or "prime minister." Instead, I modify the role of the "executive" branch to a more subservient role that I will call "administrative" in this context. In other words, the only real responsibility that the "administrative" branch has, is that it is charged with carrying out the policies as legislated by the people's representative body (the legislature). The responsibility of the other branch of the world government (judiciary) is to interpret the Laws and Constitution of the United Nations as it applies to the individual parties involved in legal dispute that pertain to matters that the United Nations has jurisdiction over. This jurisdiction may be narrow or broadly defined depending on the outcome of any eventual United Nations Constitutional Convention. But, in this context, this would be defined by the founding principles of this new government.

The legislative branch

The two houses of the legislative branch are intended to provide a means of internal checks and balances. The electoral constituency is divided into districts and subdivisions, which are equal segments based solely upon logically and consistently defined population districts.

The electoral method for the lower house of representatives is intended to ensure that all people are represented equally and with a broad enough base so that varying interests are represented. It is also intended to remain at a fixed number of seats so that the organization is not in a constant state of flux.

The electoral method for the upper house of representatives is intended to ensure that all local governments are represented equally. One representative is appointed by traditional means of ambassadorship, while the other representative is elected by a national popular vote. Since these individuals must represent the national interests of an entire country, it is best to have two representatives per country; one chosen directly by the people to represent grass roots interests, and one chosen by the national government, cultivated with traditional foreign affairs experience. It is intended that this type of representation will provide more depth to the resolution of problems that affect the world. The two houses will have disparate primary missions, to separate their work loads, while also maintaining that legislation from either house must be approved by a majority of both houses.

Additionally, procedural rules that determine the day-to-day operation of both legislative houses will be defined as narrowly as possible in the United Nations Constitution, with specific consideration given to the method by which the legislature may effect changes to those procedures. The intent of this action is to hopefully prevent the elected representatives or the majority from usurping or misusing the power granted to them by their constituents.

The lower house of representatives

The lower house of representatives will consist of 5 representatives per voting district (5 per every 1% of world population). Each voting district will be separated into 5 subdivisions, each with one electing 1 representative per .2% of world population. The term of office will be 4 years, with a 3 term limit.

For example, assuming a world population of 5 billion people and full world participation, each district would consist of 50 million people, divided into 5 subdivisions of 10 million people each. A broad demographic breakdown of representation in the lower house of representatives (based on 1978 population data) would be: Asia (285), Europe (91), Africa (52), North America (43), South America (27), and Oceania (3). The mission of the lower house includes, but is not limited to the following:

To review and approve the biannual budget submitted by the Secretary-General. In this capacity, the lower house is responsible for drafting United Nations taxing and spending legislation.

To nominate one of it's members to serve as the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

The upper house of representatives

The upper house of representatives will consist of 2 representatives from each member country. 1 elected by national popular vote, and 1 appointed to serve by the local national government. The term of office will be 4 years, with a 3 term limit. The mission of the upper house includes, but is not limited to:

As a representative body specifically consisting of equal representation of each member country, the upper house will develop legislation regarding matters of international treaty and cooperation.

To approve of the Secretary-General and Minister nominees, by a 2/3 majority vote.

The judicial branch

Judges will not be nominated, approved, or disapproved by, any other branch of government. They will be put into office and removed from office only by a majority vote of their constituency, using the same districts and subdivisions defined for the legislative branch. This is intended to completely insulate the judicial branch from other branches of government. Judges of course, are not immune to the law, and may be prosecuted and summarily removed from office in accordance with the conviction of a crime.

There may be a total of 500 subdivisions and 100 districts in accordance with the electoral policy previously stated, but their may be as many justices as needed per subdivision or district, as determined by the lower house of representatives. The term of office for lower court justices is 10 years, with no term limit. The term of office for upper court justices is life. Both lower and upper court justices, once they accept the position, cannot resign to take another government post until a 2 year waiting period is completed. This is intended to reduce the likelihood of conflict of interest regarding separation of powers or other political motives. These justices may be impeached by a referendum of their electoral constituency. This will ensure that the final interpretation of the law remains in the right and responsibility of a the people.

The administrative branch

The Secretary-General of the United Nations will be nominated from among and by the lower house of representatives, and voted into office by a 2/3 majority vote of the upper house of representatives. Essentially, this is merely the legislative branch choosing one from among themselves to be chairperson and spokesperson for the government, with some policy making authority in order to effectively manage the day-to-day operation of the government ministries. The term of office is 6 years, with a 1 term limit. The primary mission of the Secretary-General includes, but is not limited to the following:

To act as the chief operating officer of the government. This person does not have the power to veto any legislation, but is charged with ensuring that the policies and services set forth in legislation is implemented. The only veto-like power that this office holds is to disapprove of actions that are prohibited by the Constitution, such as legislation that dictates deficit spending or racial discrimination, etc. In those cases, the Secretary-General has the authority and the responsibility to take those matters directly to the people, to be decided by a popular majority vote, until which time the legislation is held in abeyance. There is no other veto authority granted to any official in this government. The people are the only ones who can develop, enact, and veto legislation, and they do so through their proxies, the members of the lower and upper house of representatives.

Is responsible for the day to day operation of the government ministries, and as such has individual control of administrative policy that is not specifically dictated by legislation. The Secretary-General will be responsible for submitting an annual budget to the lower house, to be approved and enacted by tax and spend legislation. The budget must be balanced, with no planned deficit spending.

To command the United Nations Armed Forces and use those forces to preserve global security, with subsequent approval or disapproval required of an emergency assembly of the upper house of representatives.

The administrative ministries

The Minister of any particular administrative department will be nominated for the position by the Secretary-General and/or the lower house of representatives, and approved to serve by a 2/3 majority vote of the upper house of representatives. The term of office will be 6 years, with no term limitation. The administrative ministries will be created by legislation to perform certain functions. These organizations will serve as the major working arms of the government to implement and enforce global policies and services.

The raising of revenues and spending authority

Each member nation will allocate a percentage of its gross national product to the budget of the United Nations. This percentage will have to be determined only after careful research and budgetary planning for the new government. There will also have to be consideration given to local governments that cannot contribute due to their already impoverished state. Since the percentage of GNP will be set by the elected representatives to the world congress, this should not be anything that is unbearable to the people. Since countries that enjoy a higher GNP will contribute more than those that have very low GNP's, this method will help to redistribute the wealth of more successful and wealthier nations to those that need the assistance.

To reiterate, this form of taxation and spending will be enacted by the people's elected representatives, and will be restricted to a balanced budget. There should never be a deficit, and if there is a surplus, then the subsequent year's taxation or spending can be adjusted.

An editorial note: Before you balk at this plan, try to keep in mind the spirit of what we are trying to do here. Helping those that are in need of help is largely the reason for having world unity, and the reason for doing all this. It may seem painful, but it is better for the overall well being and advancement of humanity at large. Once the needier countries become more self sufficient (a goal we must build into our programs), your personal contribution will be lower relative to the increased amount that those people can then contribute.

How do we get there from here?

Phase 1

Start building a grass roots movement and support for this sort of global cooperation and world unity, and more specifically for the formation of this type of world government. Break down the racial, religious, and cultural barriers that we have built around ourselves. THIS PHASE HAS ALREADY BEGUN thanks to the grass roots efforts of many different people and organizations around the world. Remember that grass roots efforts start small, and eventually become bigger, until there is actual implementation. That is why we call it grass roots. Not much of any good has ever happened in human history without the foundation having been built upon the words and deeds of ordinary people. Those people who are famous for doing something great were just ordinary people that happened to be in the right place at the right time, with the vision to do what needed to be done.

Phase 2

Put the blueprint for the new United Nations onto paper, call for a United Nations Constitutional Convention, using this or a similar outline as a starting point. Negotiate, draft, and re-draft until there is enough of a consensus for this convention to call for an international referendum to approve it. This would constitute a majority popular vote in every ratifying country that chooses to participate in the initial chartering of the organization.

Phase 3

From the result of phase two, proceed to build this new organization from the member countries that voted yes to participate and bind themselves to this New World Order. We can continue to persuade other countries to join as we grow and start effecting real change for world unity. The implementation at this phase will consist of actually holding the necessary elections and building the major branches of government, consisting of the legislative/administrative and judicial branches.

Phase 4

Once the foundation is layed, begin one-by-one to implement the various administrative ministries that will provide the services and implement the policies. Begin with those most related to human infrastructure and organizational infrastructure. What will follow is that people we will begin to feel united, and with that this global program of unity will take on a new meaning that I'm not sure that we can comprehend at this point. The United Nations will grow, more people will come to know and accept the government and begin to think from a global perspective, which will serve as a catalyst for even more change to improve humanity.

The administrative ministries can be formed and transitioned from existing UN council's into their new roles, and expand into even newer ones. New ministries will be added as the need is seen and legislated by the world congress.

Phase 5

Keep working on making the world a better place for everyone. Ensure that all people have equal access to the basic necessities of life such as food, shelter, health, and education, so that people can concentrate on their personal growth and fulfillment. At this point people of the world should be competing intellectually, not for basic survival. World peace should take care of itself most of the time.

Actually, it is impossible to give any specifics on how the world order will look at this point in the future, but I am sure that this plan is the foundation from which good things will happen. We will certainly be a lot closer to world unity, if not in fact there, we will be headed in that direction.

Copyright - 1992 by Robert B. Reinhardt. Permission to copy is granted provided each copy includes this notice and is provided in its entirety without modification. This paper, as stated in the abstract, is a proposal for an organizational structure and some basic procedures, for developing a world government. This paper is not an attempt to solve all of the world's problems, or all of humanity's problems. However, it is hoped that by taking this next step, that a foundation will be built upon which together, we the people can begin to solve the world's problems and the problems of humanity.

If you're interested and you would like me to incorporate some of your ideas into this paper, please send those replys directly to me via email ([email protected]). If you just want to make general comments in reply that you think other people might be interested in, please post a followup. Flames against me personally will be ignored, of course.