International peace, supra-national government, and the goal of hope, happiness, and well-being in the world of nations
THE contemplation of the mystery of Christmas – the mystery of Incarnation – invites us to be born again through a more vital union with Jesus Christ, who became man for us. With the Magi, we ought to thank God for manifesting Himself to us. We should walk like the Three Wise Men with a lively, sparkling faith, ever seeking the true God and longing for His heavenly gifts.
Today, Christmas, 2015, may our hearts express our love and gratitude and our resolve to belong entirely to Jesus, as we reflect on this manifestation that God is Peace.
And in our troublous and troubled world at the present period, peace – the symbolic olive branch – is the foremost, premier concern of mankind, and we should dedicate our best efforts and intellectual powers to a careful consideration of how the moral code and social values of each nation are perceptively and creatively translated into a covenant of peace and unity for all nations. In this seasonal month of grace and adoration, let us ask the everlasting question of how mankind’s age-old dream of eternal, enduring, and abiding peace on earth can be realized. For after all, the Gospel had sung in Luke 2, verses 1-14: “And suddenly a multitude of the heavenly host was with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in high heaven, and on earth peace among men of good will.”
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice over these glad tidings of great joy. But WHAT IS THE WORLDLY, SECULAR, AND POLITICAL ANSWER TO OUR QUESTION?
Advocates argue that world government will preserve world peace. World government, as understood in international law and politics, is a political system in which one central set of institutions would preside over all human beings and political units on the planet.
Several modifications of this model have been considered. The most grandiose proposal calls for nation-states surrendering total sovereignty to a supreme, dominant global authority that would rule directly over all citizens of the world. Nearly equally grandiose would be a federation, in which, nation-states would share power and authority with a central world government; the world government would be delegated particular powers in specific areas; for example, maintenance and deployment of armed forces, and the nation-states would be permitted to exercise jurisdiction over other areas (e.g. health care, education, social services, etc).
Another possibility being taken into consideration would be a confederation, in which a world government would enjoy some limited degree of power and authority but the greater part of it would be clearly retained by the constituent nation-state units.
Still another possibility might be the creation of several separate global authorities in different functional areas, along the lines of the International Seabed Authority proposed at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea *UNCLOS III).
Many model constitutions have been written over the years to flesh out what the components of a world government might look like in terms of executive, legislative, and judicial organs. Among the most widely debated schemes is one by Grenvile Clark and Louis Sohn who, in World Peace through World Law, proposed a permanent world police force with exclusive control on the legitimate use of force. A starting point for world government could be an amendment in the UN General Assembly voting procedures whereby each state’s voting strength would be based on population or some criteria other than sovereign equality. No state would have a veto, and UN resolutions would be binding and obligatory rather than recommendatory or advisory.
Theorizing about the prospects for world government concededly borders on science fiction. By the year 2600 – the setting for Star Trek – humankind’s sense of the universe may truly have expanded and stretched to the point where earthlings will view one another with a common destiny. Nevertheless, short of an invasion from the planet Mars, the vision and the dream of a single supra-national community under one cover is not likely to actualize in the near future.
The one value that a world government would most like maximize is PEACE. Nonetheless, just as central governments of nation-states today are not capable of forestalling the outbreak of bigscale domestic violence and civil turbulence, there is no reason to believe that a world supranational government could necessarily keep its house in order. Short of world government, it might be better for humankind to put forth efforts toward a pluralistic community with constituent units sharing common values, concerns, and interests but necessarily fastened together under one government.
In any event, the historic mission of delivering all the peoples of the world from the horrors of war into the corridors of peace must be fulfilled. We must end the senseless waste of human labor on the development of means of extermination and destruction. The proliferation of both nuclear and conventional arms, as countries engage in competitive arms race, is a source of great concern. In place of armaments, mankind must concentrate all known resources on ensuring the greater welfare and socio-economic progress of all the countries of world. In any case, we must insist that war cannot, and must not, serve as a means for settling international disputes, especially at this time. The weapons of war must be destroyed before they destroy us.
“Peace is the one condition of survival in this nuclear age,” said the eloquent American diplomat-intellectual Adlai Wring Stevension II (1900-1965). Because the only alternative to coexistence is co-destruction, we seek peace, knowing that peace is the distillation and quintessence of Christmas: GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO ET IN TERRA PAX HOMINIBUS BONAE VOLUNTATIS.
God grant that, as we joyfully celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Biblical light of His Incarnate World which shines upon our minds by faith may be reflected in our deeds. Let us hasten the fulfillment of the Biblical divine prophecy as foretold by the Hebrew prophet Isaiah in the book of the Old Testament: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”
And to my amiable and gracious friends and readers: Add to the warmth of Christmas the warmth of these best wishes – a blessed Christmas and a peaceful and peace-loving New Year!