federation of states – whereas what is required is the development of global identities
that go beyond the state.
It is important not only to democratise the United Nations (UN), but in so doing
to challenge the arguments of those who see the UN Charter as bestowing a kind
of state sovereignty on the Security Council and the General Council. International
law is already a stateless law, and it is vital to strengthen the common interest that
makes it enforceable. The problem is that the UN is an organisation with two souls.
The one is certainly globalist in scope since the Preamble to the Charter refers to
the existence of universal human rights and Article 1 speaks of the universal peace
for the peoples of the world based on self-determination. Article 2, however, speaks
of sovereign equality for member states with Article 2(7) declaring that no
intervention is allowed in the domestic jurisdiction of any state. Many have sought
unsuccessfully to tackle the unrepresentative character of the Security Council.
Pressure needs to grow on the UN to boost its peacekeeping role and its post-statal
activities where the plight of children, the spread of disease and problems of
development are tackled imaginatively and effectively.
In the same way, the European Union has two souls – the market and democracy.
The one can be particularist and short-termist, but the other is empowering and
has tremendous potential – as in the concept of European citizenship that offers a
wider identity, not in competition with but as a supplement to, state identity. A
global civil society is also developing around non-governmental organisations
(NGOs), which could be better called non-statist organisations, given the fact that
NGOs within and between countries act in ways that help to cement common
interests. NGOs like the World Wildlife Fund, Amnesty International, Oxfam,
Human Rights Watch and Christian Aid support a concept of order that stresses
resource provision rather than military action. Organisations like Amnesty
International confront national governments with transgressions of the UN Charter.
It is true that some of the 29,000 NGOs suffer from problems of bureaucracy and
authoritarianism, but they are becoming increasingly influential and they do
represent proof that organisations can tackle problems without claiming to exercise
a monopoly of legitimate force. They are no substitute for coordinated, collective
global action to tackle the problem of global inequality, but they do make a
significant practical and theoretical contribution to the question of global
government.
Globalisation has demonstrated that humans face problems of a global kind and
that global institutions have to be forged which, in conjunction with local, regional
and national governments, are able to contribute positively to a world that recognises
difference, but works against division.Summary
The state is seen by some theorists as a modern institution that has, as its identifying
features, a sharp separation of the public from the private; a capacity to exercise
sovereignty throughout its domain and protect all who live in its territory; an ability
to organise its offices along bureaucratic rather than patrimonial lines, and to extract
tax revenues from its population.Chapter 1 The state 31