The Idea of World Government: From ancient times to the twenty-first century

by Yunker; James

• ISBN13: 9780415781633
• ISBN10: 0415781639
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2011-03-21
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The notion of a single political organization encompassing the whole of humanity'”a world state'”has intrigued mankind since earliest recorded history. This book seeks to provide a concise yet comprehensive overview of the history of world government, and evaluate whether political globalization, in the form of a federal world government, can complement the ongoing processes of economic and cultural globalization?While the potential peacekeeping advantage of such a state is obvious, the consensus judgment has always been against it, suggesting it could lead to totalitarian tyranny. Yunker analyses whether this judgment is still correct, considering that nuclear weapons of unimaginable destructiveness now exist, capable of destroying human civilization as we know it. Summarizing the lessons of history, this text suggests that while the conventional world federalist concept of an unlimited world government is still impractical in today's world, there may be a role for a limited federal world government that would go well beyond the existing United Nations, offering a strong institutional basis for the evolutionary development of genuinely effective global governance.This book is an important resource for all students and scholars of global governance, international relations and international organizations.

Author Biography

James A. Yunker is Professor of Economics at Western Illinois University (Macomb, Illinois), where he teaches, economic theory and econometrics. He is the author of Common Progress: The Case for a World Economic Equalization Program and Political Globalization: A New Vision of federal World Government. Aparna Devare is Visiting Faculty at the University of Hyderabad, and has previously taught at the American University and the George Washington University in Washington DC.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xiv
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
List of abbreviations	p. xviii
Introduction	p. 1
Historical antecedents	p. 9
From Perpetual Peace to the Great War	p. 25
From the Treaty of Versailles to the nuclear age	p. 41
The postwar world government boom	p. 55
The post-Cold War era	p. 73
Is there a future for world government?	p. 98
Notes	p. 114
Select bibliography	p. 122
Index	p. 125
Glossary	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Introduction: Historicizing the Politics of History	p. 1
Exploring the Contours of History and Religion in Colonial India	p. 14
Phule: Historicizing Mythology ù A Rationalist Critique	p. 37
Phule: Where History Meets Its Other	p. 72
Ranade: Using a Modern Historical Gaze on India's Past	p. 93
Ranade: Dehistoricizing Religion through a Critical Textual (Re)Interpretation and a Faith-based Critique	p. 121
Savarkar: History as a Hegemonic World-view	p. 153
Savarkar: History, Hindutva and Crafting a Modern Hindu Identity	p. 177
Conclusion: The Limits of History	p. 206
Bibliography	p. 217
About the Author	p. 227
Index	p. 229
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