Program Areas

Program Areas

Jo Leinen & Andreas Bummel

A World Parliament

Governance and Democracy in the 21st Century

Second expanded and updated edition

Global challenges such as war, poverty, inequality, climate change, and environmental destruction are overwhelming nation-states and today’s international institutions. Even the best policies are futile if there are no appropriate political structures in place to implement them. Autocracy and nationalism further undermine global collaboration. 

Achieving a peaceful, just and sustainable world civilization requires an evolutionary leap forward. Following the emergence of democracy in ancient times and its spread to modern states from the 18th century onwards, a third democratic transformation is imminent: expanding democracy to the global scale. The creation of a democratic world parliament is the centerpiece of this project. 

This book explores the history, contemporary relevance and implementation of this monumental idea. 

This updated and revised edition expands the size by about one fifth.

Published in July 2024, 541 pages.

The book can be ordered at a bookstore of your choice as e-book, paperback and hardcover edition. → Amazon.com

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Paperback: ISBN 978-3-942282-24-6
Hardcover: ISBN 978-3-942282-26-0
Ebook: ISBN 978-3-942282-25-3

About the book

History and pioneers

The first part of the book explores the philosophical foundations of cosmopolitanism and a world parliament since ancient times. It fills a gap in the literature by tracing the history of the idea and of the attempts to bring it about from the French Revolution to the present day. In this regard, the book also serves as a comprehensive reference.

Contemporary relevance

The second part sets the issue in the context of global challenges such as climate change and planetary boundaries, the management of public goods, the pandemic threat, the stability of the financial system, combating tax evasion, terrorism and organized crime, disarmament, and protecting human rights. The construction of global democracy also plays a decisive role in combating hunger, poverty and inequality and in global water policy. Rapid developments in the fields of bio- and nanotechnology, robotics and artificial intelligence are giving rise to fundamental questions that humanity is not prepared for.

There is an overarching narrative that exposes the dysfunctions and deficiencies of the international system. At the same time, the alternative of a democratic world order and its underlying principles is presented with increasing depth. The authors stress that there is a right to democracy that applies not only to the national but also to the global level. Against the backdrop of the power structures of the transnational elite, the book argues for the implementation of a new global social contract. Finally, it outlines the contours of a new global enlightenment as well as the emergence of planetary consciousness and global solidarity.

Implementation

The third part discusses pathways, drivers and conditions for a transition to global democracy and outlines elements of a future global constitution. The book suggests that the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly represents a first step that is long overdue.

Second edition

The second edition reflects significant developments since the original publication, in particular the COVID-19 pandemic, autocratization, and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. It incorporates linguistic improvements, updated content, extensive revisions, and additions throughout the book.

Review

A World Parliament achieves several things. First, it shows how the campaign to create a people’s assembly at the UN carries the baton forward in a long history of efforts to overcome nationalist and racist hatred, discrimination and oppression. Second, it demonstrates why the world’s multiple challenges and crises cannot be addressed effectively and legitimately without a democratic body where everyone on the planet is represented as free and equal. Third, it offers a stirring vision of such a world parliament and a realistic plan of action for bringing it about. Each of these is a major accomplishment. Achieving them all in one book is a triumph.”

Mathias Koenig-Archibugi, Associate Professor of Global Politics in the Departments of Government and International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Sciences

The authors

Andreas Bummel

founder of Democracy Without Borders and the international Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. 

Jo Leinen

former member of the European Parliament and former minister of the environment in the German state of Saarland.