Program Areas

Program Areas

Jo Leinen & Andreas Bummel

A World Parliament

Governance and Democracy in the 21st Century

The book on global democracy by Jo Leinen
and Andreas Bummel.

Global challenges such as war, climate change, poverty and inequality are overwhelming nation-states and today’s international institutions. Doing the right thing requires more than having the right policies; it requires having the right political structures to implement them. Achieving a peaceful, just and sustainable world civilization requires an evolutionary leap forward towards a federal global government. The creation of a democratic world parliament is the centerpiece of this project.

This book describes the history, today’s relevance and future implementation of this monumental idea.

Published in April 2018.

The book can be ordered in retail and online bookstores worldwide. Available as e-book, paperback and hardcover edition.

A 2nd updated and expanded edition is coming up in 2024! Stay tuned and subscribe here to our newsletter. 

The 2nd edition will take into consideration developments since 2018, including the climate crisis, COVID-19, AI and the rise of authoritarianism. All data will be updated and the sections on the history and design, in particular, will be expanded.

Read about the book’s presentation in New York, Brussels and Stockholm.

Join the conversation at Twitter. Hashtag: #worldparliament.

Published with kind support of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, the Workable World Trust and Stiftung Apfelbaum.

About the book

History and pioneers of the idea

The first part of the book explores the philosophical foundations of cosmopolitanism and a world parliament since ancient times and fills a gap by tracing the history of the idea and of the attempts to bring it about from the French Revolution to the present day.

The relevance in today’s world

The second part of the book sets the idea of a world parliament in the context of global challenges such as climate change and planetary boundaries, the management of public goods, 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 institutionally prepared for.

There is an overarching narrative that describes the dysfunctions and failings of today’s international order. 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 class compromise and traces the long-term development of a planetary consciousness and global solidarity.

Implementation in the Future

The third part discusses a possible path and scenarios towards the realization of a world parliament and the transition to a democratic world order. The book takes a pragmatic approach and suggests that the establishment of a consultative United Nations Parliamentary Assembly represents a first step that is long overdue.

The authors

Andreas Bummel

born in Cape Town in 1976, founder of Democracy Without Borders and of the international Campaign for a United
Nations Parliamentary Assembly.

Jo Leinen

born in Bisten, Germany, in 1948, former member of the European Parliament and former minister of the environment in the German state of Saarland.