noun. a supreme ruler, especially a monarch. “the Emperor became the first Japanese sovereign to visit Britain”
adjective. possessing supreme or ultimate power. “in modern democracies the people’s will is in theory sovereign”
The U.S. Constitution is viewed by some world federalists as one model for a future Republic of the World, replacing the current war system that has prevailed for hundreds of years. It describes a democratic federal republic – a system of governance that holds states and territories together in a rules-based system where differences are settled in courts and not on battlefields.
Under the war system, independent or “sovereign” nation states rely for their security on armed forces, either their own or those of their more powerful allies. Opponents of moving beyond the war system fear loss of freedom, a rise of global dictatorship, or even “the end of the world.”
This fear of tyranny is certainly rational.
A democratic world federation will protect the sovereignty of nation just as the federal government of the United States protects each of the states and their subsidiary units of government.
The founders of the U.S. were motivated by a desire to escape the tyranny of the British “sovereign,” and they struggled with how to avoid creating another monarchy. Their successful formula for peaceful self-determination was for the 13 former colonies to retain authority over their internal affairs while granting a monopoly on force to a higher level of democratic government.
They disbursed authority between a Congress, a president, and a Supreme Court. Then, they made both the president and the Congress subject to regular elections. They limited the number of terms that a president could serve. They did everything they could think of to keep one person from becoming an all-powerful sovereign.
Our movement has the same goal: Instituting a system of shared sovereignty, where individual states forgo their independent possession of weapons of war, while vesting their collective security in a federal republic of the world and granting ultimate authority to the citizens themselves, expressed through a representative democracy.
Words such as “government,” “sovereignty,” “federalism,” and even “law” invoke emotional reactions and misunderstandings that spawn resistance and block genuine discourse. Gaining support for democratic world federation requires us to bring sematic clarity and consistency to our communications.
Why federation? Currently, all nations are vulnerable to destruction, invasion, encroachment, occupation, and pollution by other “sovereign” nations. A democratic world federation will protect the sovereignty of nation just as the federal government of the United States protects each of the states and their subsidiary units of government. It will create a common security and put an end to the need for national armies.
Citizens for Global Solutions foresees a democratic United Federation of Nations, with the power to make and enforce world law that is binding on individuals and governments at all levels. to protect the global environment, put an to end systemic human rights abuses, prevent local disease outbreaks from becoming global pandemics, eliminate nuclear weapons, and prevent the rise of authoritarianism, global tyranny, and dictatorship.