Manifest for a World Federation—For Peace, Ecosystems Protection and Democracy
—A Call to Action for All Global Citizens ()
1. The Global Stage
Humanity has gone through great risks and periods of crisis countless times. However, only since the second half of the 20th century, with the tumultuous rise of the power of technology, have humans had tools at their disposal that allow them to instantly extinguish their own species and destroy ecosystems and, at the same time, the potential to give billions of human beings expectations of long, prosperous lives and once unimaginable feats such as the exploration and habitation of extra-terrestrial space.
The fate of humanity and our planet will depend largely on the ability of individual peoples and nations to take joint action to defuse the threat of war and weapons of mass destruction and to preserve the diversity and richness of ecosystems threatened by human activities, in short, on the historic decision to establish a world government in the form of a democratic world federation.
Because of the way technology, communications, and economics have shaped today’s world, the true relationship between all people and nations is one of inter-in-dependence. We are inevitably interdependent with everyone else, and it is our institutional recognition of this relationship that strengthens and ensures our independence. We can therefore state that a federal world administration is the only way to effectively and wisely address the common challenges facing humanity, a World Federation based on continental federal nations, including a European Federation.
2. Decline of Democracy
In recent decades, we have witnessed a serious decline in democratic principles and practices around the world. As a result, resurgence of authoritarianism has occurred, where autocratic leaders consolidate their power due to the erosion of democratic institutions, the manipulation of elections, and the repression of the opposition. Growing political polarization has created an environment where constructive dialogue and cooperation have become almost impossible. Divisions have been exacerbated by the media fragmentation and the proliferation of social networks that encourage extremism and misinformation. More on this bleak outlook, repression of civil society has increased, freedom of expression and activities of non-governmental organizations are restricted, and human rights defenders are persecuted.
Recurrent economic crises and growing economic inequality are the result of the abandonment or lack of democracy and search for the equality of all citizens. In many cases, neoliberal policies have benefited economic elites at the expense of the majority and the gap between rich and poor has grown.
Meanwhile, due to uncontrolled capitalism and the prevalence of modern technology, humanity is at great risk. We do not have global regulations to control nuclear weapons and guarantee peace, nor to protect nature and avoid environmental disasters, such as global warming.
3. States, Conflicts and the Flaws of Intergovernmental
Institutions
At the close of World War II, the leaders of the main winner countries could have created a democratic authority over the nations with the capacity to prevent war, abolish imperialism, and create a common management for nuclear energy. Instead, they created a United Nations with no authority, no enforcement mechanisms, no independent funding, and a severe democratic deficit. The result is a continued political and economic fragmentation of humanity into warring national units and, due to the global economic system of unlimited accumulation of private wealth, an ever-growing absolute disparity between a tiny super-wealthy minority and the impoverished masses of humanity.
Modern statehood was invented in Europe that has been ravaged by conflicts, small and large wars, for centuries. After each very serious crisis, the European state system has been shown to be part of an evolution of state systems. Until 1648, kings, counts, dukes and popes fought each other in many, and often long-running wars. With the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 (Treaty of Westphalia, 1648), this disordered state system came to an end and the order of sovereign nation-states, with fixed borders, emerged. That was the second European state system.
Those nation-states were ordered by “international agreement” never to attack each other and thus never to wage war. Although this second European state system was no longer characterized by constant conflicts and wars across the European continent, wars still occurred.
In the period between World War I and World War II, political leaders decided to create a League of Nations, with the aim of stopping conflicts and wars between states, based on intergovernmental institutions and the articles of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 (Treaty of peace between the allied and associated powers and Germany, 1919). This intergovernmental, treaty-based League of Nations did not have the strength and authority to prevent World War II and was ultimately dissolved.
With the creation of the European Community in 1951 (Consolidated version of the treaty establishing the European Community, 2002), the third European state system was established, which again consisted of an intergovernmental government based on treaties. In the European Union there is no clear separation of powers; the only elected body is the European Parliament and although its powers have increased with a succession of treaties, its ability to influence policies remains limited and subordinate to the Commission and the Council (Hix et al., 2007; Rittberger, 2005). Furthermore, the large number of actors and the complexity of institutional linkages, the non-transparent consensus decision-making within the Council, and the drafting of laws and regulations by unelected technocrats rather than by the people’s elected representatives, are elements that question the democratic quality of the European Union and erode its institutions. The European Union system was preceded by the creation of the United Nations in 1945 (United Nations Charter, 1945), that also gave the world order an operational system based on treaties.
Political leaders did not learn from these fundamental undemocratic and ineffective political systems. Now, both treaty-law systems, that of the United Nations (Gardiner, 2007; Galiñanes et al., 2023) and of the European Union (Dustmann et al., 2017; Galiñanes, 2023; Galiñanes et al., 2024), have come to the end of their political life cycle. Exactly as the League of Nations (Rust, 2023), they are no longer able to offer lasting peace and prosperity. This is due to their intergovernmental treaty-based nature that, based on the preeminent role of governments and political leaders, often act behind closed doors, with a lack of democratic control and the absence of a legislative branch with the power to initiate laws, as is the case of both the European Parliament and the unelected General Assembly of the United Nations.
As for the European Union, the recent report on “The future of European Competitiveness” by Mario Draghi (Draghi, 2024), former president of the European Central Bank, is one of the most serious warnings about the decline of the Europe Union. However, his recommendations for drastic measures to save Europe are questionable. The European Union suffers from a profound degree of decadence (entropy) in political, economic, legal and humanitarian terms. Hollowed out by systemic flaws on the one hand and not resilient to external pressures from geopolitical changes on the other, and together with its undemocratic and ineffective treaty structure, it has placed itself in a situation where it consumes more energy than it stores to stay alive and renew itself. As this decline multiplies exponentially (known as a positive feedback process), it is legitimate to ask whether the European Union will survive its identity crisis, and whether Draghi’s recommendations come too late.
For carrying values and objectives of peace, prosperity, justice, and security, multilateral treaties have the same effectiveness of building an edifice on quicksand. The power of bilateral treaties comes from the fact that both contracting sides have an equal common interest in concluding and enforcing their treaty. However, in the case of multilateral treaties, such as those of the United Nations and the European Union, the strength of the connection of common perceived interests visibly decreases as the number of treaty member states increase. Nowadays, it must be recognized that in both treaty systems national and nationalist interests are becoming increasingly predominant (at the expense of common transnational interests), thereby risking a return to the ever-warring darkness of the Nation-states of the 20th century.
4. The World Today and the Evolution of the State System
It is not clear whether, especially since the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine, we have entered a second Cold War or rather are already in a situation like that which occurred with the Nazi-fascist escalation of the last century, which led to World War II. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had profound and far-reaching effects on global security, transforming geopolitical dynamics, military strategies and alliances around the world and influencing regional and international security frameworks, highlighting the fragility of the international order. The coexistence of serious conflicts, such as the Gaza war in the Middle East and the dispute between China and the US over Taiwan region, resembles the conflicts that occurred after the controversial Treaty of Versailles, which, due to the creation of a system of alliances, gave rise to events such as the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the Spanish civil war, the Japanese invasion of China and the various conflicts related to minorities living in Europe, which finally led to World War II. The League of Nations and the state system in place at the time could not deal with the raise of oppressive dictatorships and friction between nation states, including European imperialism (Rust, 2023). One may wonder: Are we now on the verge of World War III? Anyone who understands the process of a dying system, the combination of entropy, positive feedback and identity crisis, will answer “yes” to that question. The systemic failures of both the United Nations and European Union are so serious that there is no possibility of repair. Only a shift from a treaty-based to a federal system can save us.
It is time to put an end to this shameful global situation that is taking place once again, before it is too late for young and future generations and for planet Earth. This must be accompanied by great political changes and, first, the predominance of international cooperation over the anarchy of nation-states.
Seen from the perspective of an evolution of state systems, the fourth system now presents itself: a federal world order that includes the replacement of the current intergovernmental European Union with a European Federation, the “Federated States of Europe”.
5. Why Promoting Federations?
Federal organizations guarantee a solid framework in which power is distributed more equitably among the different states/regions that can exercise their self-government, while at the same time entrusting the common interests to a federal authority through a vertical division of powers between states/regions and the federal authority. This leads, as we could have learned long ago from the German philosopher Johannes Althusius, to the “Political Method” of building federal systems around 1600 (Duignan, 2024), to shared sovereignty, whilst preserving the autonomy of subnational entities.
In a properly constructed centripetal federal system (bottom-up), the A-Z powers of the member states of the federation are separated vertically. The member states entrust powers A, B and C to a federal body that they themselves create to look after a limited list of common interests of the member states interests that no member state can look after on its own. This is not a transfer of sovereignty in the sense that the member states lose those powers, but rather a shared sovereignty.
We must clearly state that common interests are those interests that cannot be served by an individual country. This means that there are a wide range of issues that must remain in the decision-making sphere of national, regional and local governments, so that diversity is respected while unity is promoted. Therefore, federalism is basically cooperation among different states/regions, without assimilation of their own cultures, traditions and institutions; and, as a result, it is against forced assimilation as happens in authoritarian regimes and the oppression that often occurs in imperial systems.
6. Joining Forces
The weakening of democracy, where knowledge and responsibilities are delegated, threatens political and social stability and undermines the fundamental rights and freedoms at the heart of democratic societies. It is crucial that we act collectively through a cohesive global strategy to defend and renew democracy around the world to ensure freedom, justice and human dignity. To achieve this, we call on all citizens of this planet to join forces to actively defend and promote the following democratic principles:
1) Strict constitutionally based separation of legislative, executive and judiciary powers and subjection to the rule of law, ensuring a balance of power and effective political accountability.
2) Transparency of institutions and effective fight against corruption and patronage.
3) Promotion of media freedom and independence and fight against misinformation.
4) Protection and guarantees for all minorities and social groups.
5) Free and fair elections with equal access to voting for all citizens.
6) Civic education and direct citizen participation (referendums, consultations, citizens’ initiatives) so that citizens understand their rights and responsibilities and have a direct voice in decision-making.
7) Promotion and protection of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations work, so that they can work without unnecessary restrictions.
8) Requirement of internal democracy and transparency for political parties.
By safeguarding these core democratic principles, which are already part of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948), a World Federation should be established by a constitutional document that includes the following principles:
(i) To preserve with all forces and means the natural environment, its creatures and resources.
(ii) To promote unity, peace and shared social development.
(iii) The citizens and States that are members of the federation are equal in duties and rights.
(iv) The States join the federation while preserving their autonomy and self-government, which they mutually recognize.
(v) The federation manages only the interests common to all members, as established in the constitution.
(vi) The fundamental law of the federation is its constitution, which, limited to the common interests, has greater value than any different agreement between the adhering subjects.
(vii) The federation is founded and operates in accordance with a strict separation between the legislative, judicial and executive powers.
(viii) No member may develop or maintain a capacity, whether productive, organizational, material or of any other type, capable of threatening the protection of the natural environment or of any adherent subject or of any human community.
(ix) If such forces exist, they must be exclusively regulated and administered by the world federation body, in accordance with the principles and methods prescribed by its constitution.
A federal governance, by fostering cooperation and dialogue among nations, and linking together different regions and communities, strongly promotes and protects democracy, ensures political stability and peace, reduces the risk of authoritarianism, and facilitates solidarity among people. With this vision, the Federal Alliance of European Federalists (FAEF) drafted in 2022 a Constitution for the Federated States of Europe (The making of the Constitution for the Federated States of Europe, 2022) to end the democratic deficit and inefficacy of the European Union.
The World Constitution and Parliament Association (WCPA) has designed a Constitution for the Federation of the Earth (Constitution for the Federation of the Earth, 2015), to address the global challenges facing humanity. The construction of federative structures, utilising a centripetal, bottom-up governance approach, addresses common interests without harming national sovereignties while it allows direct political participation of citizens, all of which lays the foundation for superior governance in all areas.
Hence, the historical and practical necessity of regional and continental federations, and their integration within a World Federation, becomes evident when considering the catastrophic consequences of global conflicts and the deterioration of the natural environment. Federalism has proven successful in several countries throughout history, including the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, India, Australia, and Brazil, as it allows for the balance of power between central governments and regional authorities and helps manage diversity, maintain political stability, foster economic development, and protect minority rights in these diverse and large nations. In this way, by distributing power between different levels of government, federalism has proven to be an adaptable and durable system of governance. Evidence and research consistently show that federalism can promote peace by managing diversity and providing mechanisms for conflict resolution (Lake & Rothchild, 1996; Brancati, 2006), enhance democracy by increasing political participation and preventing concentration of power (Riker, 1964; Elazar, 1987; Lijphart, 1999; Filippov et al., 2004), and enable more effective environmental protection by fostering regional innovation and enabling adaptation to local ecological conditions (Jordan et al., 2018). With respect and gratitude to the current 27 federal states that emerged in the world since 1787, which together already comprise 42% of the world’s population.
There are still many non-democratic countries in the world and the question is whether and how these nations can successfully adopt a federal government structure. To achieve this, it will be necessary to support democratic movements and promote cooperation as a first step. Furthermore, promoting economic policies and trade agreements with non-democratic countries will improve the well-being of their citizens, encourage their economy and stimulate political reforms, strategies that will gradually create an environment conducive to an integrated and democratic federal governance structure, respectful of the cultures and identities of each human community that aspires to peace, environmental sustainability, health and prosperity of the entire world. These measures, when implemented together, can also create a stronger environment for human rights protection in developing countries.
7. The Philosophical Basis and the Moral Imperative for the
Federation of Nations
The philosophical underpinnings for the federation of nations are deeply entrenched in the Enlightenment ideals of universal human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Thinkers like Immanuel Kant and Jean-Jacques Rousseau envisioned a cosmopolitan world where nations would cooperate under a common legal framework to ensure peace and justice. Thus, Kant’s vision, that a federation of free states adhering to democratic principles would be the best guarantee for lasting peace, highlights the necessity of a federal authority to mediate conflicts and enforce international law, therefore preventing the descent into chaos and war (Kant et al., 2006).
Also, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, the authors of the Federalist Papers in 1787 (Federalist papers: primary documents in American history), underlined the usefulness and necessity of securing common interests of countries, such as peace and prosperity, in a federal framework. With emerging autocratization and the growing threat of destruction of the Earth, it is time to act decisively and make these principles a reality.
The moral arguments for the formation of federal states resting on justice and equity, human dignity and rights, and the protection of diversity and autonomy are compelling. Besides, historical and contemporary examples, from Nazi Germany to modern-day authoritarian or militarized regimes, demonstrate how autocratic governments lead to gross human rights violations, wars and widespread suffering. Therefore, by establishing and enforcing international norms and laws, the nation’s federations may avoid the rise of autocrats and deter human rights abuses.
The moral imperative to prevent future wars and to protect human dignity and freedom was articulated in the Ventotene Manifesto penned by Altiero Spinelli, Eugenio Colorni and Ernesto Rossi in 1941 (The Ventotene Manifesto, 1941). They called for a radical restructuring of European governance, advocating a post-war Europe united under a federal system to prevent future conflicts, promote peace and democracy, and safeguard the rights and freedoms of European citizens. The Ventotene Manifesto came at a historical moment of democratic decline in Europe and the rest of the world. However, more than 80 years after its proclamation, the call to federalise Europe has not been carried out mainly due to the deployment of a negative nationalist policy. As a result, the European Union’s treaty-based governance has reaped a succession of failed policies and created a dysfunctional Europe that is at the end of its political life.
Therefore, it has become necessary for citizens to strongly reiterate the importance, usefulness and necessity of federal statehood in Europe and globally. It is essential, and increasingly urgent, to build a united and democratic European federation to counter the rise of authoritarianism and to prevent the outbreak of another devastating global conflict. In addition, a strong and cohesive Europe could play a pivotal role in global diplomacy, promoting peace and stability on a wider scale, apart from being a major stimulus for the articulation of other regional and continental federations within the World Federation as envisioned by the Constitution for the Federation of Earth (Constitution for the Federation of the Earth, 2015).
8. Challenges and Roadmap for Federating the World
Federating the world offers clear benefits in terms of peace, democracy and environmental protection. However, there are challenges that will need to be overcome, such as issues of sovereignty and equitable representation, cultural diversity, and economic disparity. Challenges best met with federal governance structures (The making of the Constitution for the Federated States of Europe, 2022; Galiñanes, 2023). Also regional federations built on geographical proximity, shared history and economic ties, which makes cooperation easier and more effective, can facilitate global governance with common purpose and a greater sense of shared global identity. In addition, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society networks can play a vital role, especially in developing countries, by promoting international cooperation, monitoring government performance and mobilising public opinion.
The existing international organizations to cooperate on critical issues such as trade, security, health, and environmental protection recognizes the overwhelming need for close cooperation between the world’s nations. Despite this, organizations such as the global environmental governance, fragmented into numerous organizations (e.g., the United Nations Environment Programme, the Convention on Biological Diversity), have proven insufficient to effectively combat climate change due to weak implementation of standards and voluntary commitments. Similarly, the United Nations has an outdated and often ineffective structure for maintaining international peace and security, and the veto power of the five permanent members (United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom) often leads to a stalemate, particularly when it comes to issues such as humanitarian interventions or conflict resolution (e.g., in Syria, Ukraine or Israel-Palestine). Furthermore, the lack of a cohesive relationship and effective cooperation among nations is exemplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed major weaknesses in healthcare across the world, underscoring the urgent need for reforms not only to improve pandemic preparedness but also to address health inequalities and promote universal access to health. Clearly, addressing these and other pressing issues will require a broader integration of global governance into a global federation with a stronger mandate to coordinate and enforce policies, thereby eliminating the existing fragmentation and overlapping arrangements of international organizations.
Continental and regional organizations around the world, including the European Union, the African Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, MERCOSUR in South America, the Gulf Cooperation Council in the Middle East, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and The North American Free Trade Agreement, founded primarily to promote regional security and economic cooperation, is another demonstration of the urgent need to create a unified world governance to effectively address critical common issues. Of course, continental and regional organizations can be seen as embryonic building blocks for a broader, cohesive global system in the form of a world federation.
The construction of regional and global federal systems must be based on a governing constitutional document that defines its principles, powers and limitations, as the FAEF has carried out for the construction of the Federated States of Europe (The making of the Constitution for the Federated States of Europe, 2022) and the WCPA for the construction of the Federation of the Earth (Constitution for the Federation of the Earth, 2015). But to advance world federalization it is also needed that people around the world understand its value and support it. And to achieve this, it is essential to educate citizens about global interdependence, federalism and the need for international governance. Global educational campaigns explaining the benefits of federalism and global governance will need to be launched through the media, schools, universities and civil society groups. Furthermore, global citizenship education will need to be established in national curricula to foster a sense of shared responsibility for global issues such as climate change, peace and human rights, as well as to promote dialogue in international forums.
9. Call for Action
We find ourselves at a critical moment in which environmental problems, wars and poverty threaten human well-being and survival, existential problems that are exacerbated by the decline of democracy and the rise of authoritarianism. This Manifest is a call to governments, politicians and citizens of this planet to become aware of the need to act together to defend democracy and the benefits of global federalism for a just and peaceful world.
This Manifest is also a cry in defence of the existence, culture and identity of each citizen of the Earth. If we do not act with conviction and determination now, the costs of indecision will end up being greater.
If you agree with this Manifest and support the creation of the Federated States of Europe click here [https://www.faef.eu] and if you also favour the creation of a World Federation based on the principles above mentioned, click here [https://www.earthconstitution.world/].
With your support, we are engaging a growing mass of citizens from Europe and other parts of the world to create a set of regional and continental federations, fundamental pillars of a world federation to ensure the environmental preservation of the earth, global peace, security and prosperity.
If you would like to participate yourself either at the European level or in the process leading to a Provisional World Parliament in December 2025, contact:
Manuel Galiñanes, President Federal Alliance of European Federalists (FAEF), https://www.faef.eu, manuel.galinanes@gmail.com.
Glen Martin, President Provisional World Parliament, Earth Constitution Institute, gmartin@earthconstitution.world.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the FAEF Board and the ECI members for their contribution to the drafting of this document.