Bill Bartlett writes:
> Martin William Smith wrote:
> >NATO is not a world government.  Yugoslavia was not part of NATO, so
> >there were at least two sovereigns, NATO and Yugoslavia.  Obviously,
> >that is not a single world government.
>
> Nevertheless, Yugoslavia is obviously subject to the rules imposed by NATO,
> so NATO meets the usual criteria of a "government". That is, NATO is
> "governing" the behaviour of Yugoslavia.

It wasn't true before the bombing that Yugoslavia was subject to the
NATO rules.  Now it is true, and NATO is, effectively, the enforcement
branch of European government.  But it's not a world government, and
it's not my idea of good government.

> Not a democratic government obviously, but that isn't an essential element
> of government and never has been.
>
> Unless you can think of any other body which has the will and the power to
> enforce its will on subject governments throughtout the world, I think NATO
> is very close to your ideal of the one world government.

No, I think that a combination of the UN and a NATO-like military
would be a world government.  There would have to be one less level of
bureaucracy, namely the nation level.  There would be states like
Oregon and Tasmania, and some nations, like Norway, would become
states in this sense.  All large nations would have to devolve into
smaller states.  There would be a United States of the World.  I think
it would be similar to the US government with respect to the
separation of powers, and its constitution might be similar to the US
constitution.  But it would include the referendum, and it would
separate the proposing of legislation from the passing of legislation.
In other words, the body that proposes legislation would not be
allowed to pass that legislation.

> The US alone is the only other contender, I think NATO is
> prefereable. And probably more able to do the job, except obviously
> the US would be loathe to surrender its role as a regional
> government, ruling over the countries of Nth. and Sth. America and
> the Pacific region.

I think you are right, but I think it will happen eventually anyway.
I think the EU's movement toward a US-like federation, and the
emergence of China as the most powerful economy, will force the
issue.  I don't know when.

martin

Martin Smith                    Email: [log in to unmask]
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