Image de l'Alliance

| français |

www.alliance21.org > Workgroups > Thematic Groups > World Parliament

World Parliament

Forum: Proposal for a World Parliament for the Twenty-first Century (October 2002 - October 2003)

In our present times of globalization a whole set of problems involving the entire planet is being put on the table. We are facing these problems but have not yet been able to find common answers. Both the selfishness of some and the indifference of many allows, among other disasters, extreme poverty to coexist with opulence, wars to kill millions of persons, the environment to react in the form of unpredictable disasters, individualism to lead people to shirk their responsibilities and hypnotize them with false consumption paradises.

Our planet is like a drifting ship without a helm. Just as each part of a ship is indispensable to it, each social dimension is necessary for the world to function properly; we need a global legal and political dimension, a kind of global helm. We are afraid of facing the issue of global politics because past ideologies are still disturbing us with their bells of salvation.

:: Articles ::

X. Second Stage (May - October 2003) and Follow-up to the Project
:: Germà Pelayo :: June 2004 ::

How do we move from a simple Internet-based discussion to generating a world citizens’ movement having nothing less, as its ambition, than the institution of international democracy by establishing a World Parliament? In addition to that, how can we organize in the most open and democratic way possible, without exclusion, “making our way as we go,” and always striving to find the appropriate measures of modesty and emergency? Here is what the ultimate, nearly ideal raison d’être could be for (...)

A Few Proposals Produced by the Debate :: June 2004 ::

1. Values and Principles for a World Parliament Promote personal maturity and sovereignty. “Parliamentary” democracy has become demagogy, because parliamentary majorities control the executive branch. We all have to make a cultural leap to see ourselves as Sovereign Citizens. Human beings must be rigorously educated from childhood to think of the world with rights and a prince’s responsibilities, rights and duties shared with all other Citizens. Develop self-governance. That is to say, base (...)

IX. Summary 6
:: Arnaud Blin :: June 2004 ::

For this last discussion of the first phase of the forum, the debate focused on the next steps we might take towards creating a World Parliament. The main issues that were discussed included language and communication as well as dealing with the thorny issue of politicians and deciding on a timeline for the World Parliament process. by Arnaud BLIN, Forum Coordination For the last month of the first phase, we oriented the debate towards the next steps that we could take for actually (...)

VIII. Summary 5 :: June 2004 ::

This was the theme of this month’s discussion: How can we create a movement for global democracy and a world parliament and invite everyone to participate? The debate started with criticism of the forum, which in turn drew responses defending the initiative. There were also some disagreements regarding the need to adopt a universal language. The discussion moved on to fundamental topics such as direct participation, true democracy, qualitative democracy and world democracy. Finally we also (...)

VII. Summary 4 :: June 2004 ::

The biggest task of a World Parliament is to come up with a process that is truly democratic. Representation and direct participation seem to be the two options on the horizon. However, both are unsatisfactory. Representation because it leads to undemocratic behaviors and processes, direct participation because it cannot be used on a global scale and with so many decisions to make. Possible solutions to this conundrum include the idea that elected officials of a World Parliament be chosen (...)

VI. Summary 3 :: June 2004 ::

This summary of the third theme under discussion considers the organization of the World Parliament. A World Parliament can be the place to implement true direct democracy, for example through the vote of all the citizens of the world (through universal suffrage) for (or against) ideas, rather than for individuals or parties (representatives). Among the scenarios of direct democracy, a mechanism that involves a period of universal consultation for the elaboration, the study, and the voting (...)

V. Summary 2 :: June 2004 ::

Two parts to the discussion: critique of the current system of governance and visions for a future architecture of global governance. Critiques included the inadequacies of the state system and of the capitalist economy and globalization, on the problematic nature of the North/South gap, on the shortcomings of the United Nations, on the failure or non-existence of environmental policies. Responses included reforming the U.N., creating a world government, extending the European Union model (...)

IV. Summary 1 :: June 2004 ::

The discussion was initiated with a debate on values, principles and purpose. In general terms, most everyone agreed that there is a necessity for today’s world to look for global solutions to urgent problems such as war, inequality, poverty, and environmental degradation. There were definitely two main currents in the discussion. The first one was adamant that a good amount of time be devoted to coming to an agreement on values before any move be made to construct a World Parliament. The (...)

III. Calendar :: June 2004 ::

I. October 15 - November 17, 2002 Introductions + Values, Principles, and Purposes. a) Introductions, expectations People are invited to: talk about themselves: personal or professional aspects, anything they think that it could be important to know say what they are expecting from the forum and from a World Parliament in general b) World Parliament + the values, principles, and purposes of global governance Which values and principles should be included, and which excluded in the (...)

II. Introduction
:: Rob Wheeler :: June 2004 ::

Context and Proposal In our present times of globalization all of humankind is facing the same set of problems. Domination by the few and the indifference of the many allows, among other disasters, extreme poverty to coexist with opulence, war to end to the lives of millions of innocent people, and the environment to become fragile. An overwhelming sense of individualism encourages us to cast off responsibility and hypnotizes society with a false paradise of consumption. Even worse, all (...)

I. Foreword
:: Gustavo Marin :: June 2004 ::

The search for a new representative body for citizens of the whole world was initially undertaken just after World War II by the founders of different so-called “internationalist” movements, such as the World Citizens. These groups recommended the institution of a world government that was to override geographical and state borders and manage human destinies, deeply bruised by the wars. The idea of a world government was not only very controversial but also difficult to implement, because the (...)

Other Networks
A World Parliament for the 21st Century

1999-2009 Alliance for a Responsible, Plural and United World