"State of the World," a respected, nonpolitical, annual publication, recited in its 1995 edition, a description of the social and po0litical symptons of "unsustainability" which certain unfortunate nations had come to exhibit at that time. More than fifteen years later, these symptoms continue to be accurate: "hunger and malnutrition...; environmental and economic refugees; social conflicts along ethnic, tribal, and religious lines; riots and insurgencies." (Lester Brown, et. ors., "State of the World," 1995)
Dr. Peter Taylor's World Government makes further reference to the results of material inequalities within countries. These comprise unstable governments, one-party political systems, governments that revolve around the strong personality of a single charismatic leader, and governments that frequently override or ignore constitutions that are in place.
In his Globalization and its Discontents, Joseph Stiglitz offers another account of the dilemma which afflicts many ill-favored parts of the world, resulting in "vicious spirals." Per his characterization, "...lack of food leads to ill health, which limits their [the poor's] earning ability, leading to still poorer health. Barely surviving, they cannot send their children to school; and without an education, their children are condemned to a life of poverty." Thus the cycle repeats itself again and again.
These tragic pictures are particularly prevalent in Africa, where twenty seven countries hold twenty seven of the lowest places on the scale of human development.
In his One World, Peter Singer asserts that humanitarian intervention is justified when resorted to as a response to conditions that can kill or seriously harm many people--especially when the "state nominally in charge" is not able, or not willing, to deal with it. In their Challenge of Global Capitalism, Robert and Jean Gilpin obviously agree, declaring that "there are many extremely serious social and political problems in the world...." And that "changed national and regional policies could assist the poor and the downtrodden." The questions are: What is the best and most proper form of entity to execute such humanitarian intervention? And, What form of entity should undertake these changed policies? I submit that the substitution of states "nominally in charge" with a single universal governing entity is the ultimate, and probably only, answer; and that this answer needs to be effectuated as soon as reasonably possible.
In his aforementioned work, Peter Singer quotes from St. Thomas Aquinas, who long ago declared that "whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their maintenance." Stated in more modern terms, some of our super-rich (persons as well as institutions) should feel a need to be a bit more generous upon realizing that, each day, thousands of children as well as adults die as a result of malnutrition and ailments for which prevention and treatment are readily available, at the expenditure of a fraction of the resources that they possess.
In short, the time has arrived for a change--a change which will elevate conditions within our world to the level of our civilization--a change which, in my opinion, only a unified worldwide entity would have the means to accomplish.
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