In many countries of the European Union – France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Belgium – there have been demonstrations, sometimes violent, of young people who manifest a radical unease, difficult to identify. These are protests against the school system, against the cost of living, the cost of rents and, more generally, a policy that ignores their uncertain future. The search for explanations often focuses solely on insufficient national policies, but ignores that the protests have a European dimension.
If the protest has supranational dimensions, it is legitimate to look for its causes in international politics. The end of the Cold War did not open up a scenario that allows us to hope for a better world. The crumbling of the USA-USSR world government allowed military adventures in many countries (especially in Africa), Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the war between the US, Israel and Iran that has inflamed the entire Middle East. A progressive erosion of democratic systems is underway, starting with the USA, whose president, Trump, threatens not only the future of the UN, the ICC and the European Union, but also the rule of law in the USA.
In the years of the Cold War, the political confrontation between the USA and the USSR was also an ideological confrontation between democracy and communism. Thanks to the institutions of the UN, an ideological debate had developed in world politics for pacification between nations, for more democracy and social justice, for an international economy that did not ignore the demands of the poorest countries and for the fight against climate change, a serious threat to the survival of all living beings.
This political-cultural horizon is forgotten today. Young people must note that there are wars everywhere, that thousands of innocent people are killed in bloody combat or as innocent civilian victims. International politics is showing its demonic face: politics as a pure destructive power. How is it possible to think about one’s future in this world? Why follow a tiring educational path when there are no decent and peaceful prospects for life?
It must be acknowledged that the nation state, in Europe and in every part of the world, is no longer the political-ideological context in which young people can plan their future. Federalists must have the courage to design policies to prevent international anarchy from overwhelming even the remaining existing supranational institutions, such as the European Union and the United Nations.
