A World to Win

The Indian Express     23rd November 2020     Save    

Context:  Without effective global governance, the world faces the real danger of lurching towards more disorder, divisions and even wars.

Challenges to Global Governance:           

  • New cold war: due to the break between US-China relations.
  • Rising regional conflicts: like the tense standoff between India and China and civil wars in Syria, Iraq, Libra and Yemen.
  • Environmental Issues: g. Fires in Amazon forest( the world’s largest sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide) due to greedy and reckless rule in Brazil.
  • Crisis of nuclear disarmament: New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the US and Russia is set to expire on February 5, 2021.
  • Pressing issues: Challenge of making COVID vaccine available to the entire global population, global poverty and achieving time-bound climate action to protect the planet
  • Militarisation: of oceans, outer space and other global commons.
  • Nation’s becoming prisoners of sectional interests: The paradigm of exclusive and paramount national sovereignty has become the greatest barrier to human unity and fraternity.

Radical ideas for and effective Global Governance:

  • Non-discriminatory and justice-promoting governance:  for creating a more united, safer and better world.
  • Embrace the virtues of shared sovereignty: Connectivity should be given priority over the fetish of territoriality, which will help to create reliable structures for collective global and regional security.
  • Persuade global powers to reduce their military expenditures: Criminalize the militarisation of international disputes, in addition to the destruction of all their weapons of mass destruction.
  • Reforms in the United Nations (UN): abolition of permanent membership of its UN security council (UNSC) for ensuring equality of all nations, suspending offensive nations from UNSC membership.
  • Broad-based and participatory governance: Need for empowered participation of all stakeholder (artists, media persons) by ending the monopoly of professional politicians in global governance

 Conclusion: Hence, the time has come to rally the people of all nations, races and religions around a New Idea of the World - a new democratically governing body to address the chaos and troubles caused by myopic, self-centred and unaccountable national governments.