The failure of current international organisations
The international treaties, customs and legal principles that are in place presently have been ignored, despite the fact that there is a formal organisation, called the United Nations (UN), which aims to implement these laws, together with the International Criminal Court (ICC). There are now a significant number of international institutions; the international police force, Interpol; The World Bank; International Monetary Fund (IMF); The World Trade Organisation (WTO); and the Co-operation and Development (OECD). Alongside these organisations are the, G7 and G20 countries, who meet annually to review global issues like climate change.
However, these are all limited in their effectiveness as any initiatives they propose must first be filtered through the perspective of nation centrism. This perspective has developed over thousands of years of human evolution. A truly holistic, humanitarian approach to international governance is further limited by international organizations and laws that are based on comparative advantage, international trade and the global economy. These economic factors have an enormous influence over humanity as a whole, even beyond that wielded by national governments. The globalisation of corporate power is simultaneously overriding the power of national governments.
Global communication = global movement
The increase in global communications in the media, and in particular the internet, has allowed information and different worldviews to spread virally across the world beyond any political authority. This whole networking process has now significantly transcended the idea of countries and have moved into a humanitarian perspective.
Change is happening at an incredible speed, which is rapidly altering our understanding and behaviour. It seems we are moving beyond the era where self-seeking individualism and neo-liberalism are seen as the accepted norms. However, economic instruments of power win over existing humanitarianism due to fragmentation. It is therefore now obvious that a global movement is needed to achieve a huge amount of solutions, driven from a humanitarian international perspective.
Global Governance
Global governance now has an influential consensus but it will require collective leadership, scientific practicality and wisdom that will allow us to work together. The IHO would have authority at a humanitarian level that goes above global capitalism, helping to unify nation states around the perspective of the humanitarian population.
As Einstein famously said, “you cannot solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created it.” Therein is the core problem: we can never expect anything to significantly improve when it is coming from ignorance and self-interest, which in turn will only create the same problems. As long as we remain in competition with each other in relation to solving our collective problems then we will not solve the crisis we all face. Cooperation must transcend beliefs; cooperation depends on the truth, the truth of our collective relationship with each other.
International Cooperation is the only way!
To contribute to solutions our motivation needs to make a shift from competing as a means of success, to serving the whole community as a means of success. For instance, a business should ask the question, ‘how can my business help society as a whole?’, rather than ‘how can my business compete with other businesses?’ This approach has proven to be far more effective, not just because it is a good thing to do but because it is the wisest thing to do, whether it is for one’s own success or for the benefit of the whole community.
Cooperation is the only way we can improve the quality of life for the whole human race and repair the damage humanity has done to the Earth. We therefore need to work with those who share this within a growing integrated network, using all the powers of modern technology, and bring about a cooperative, more intelligent and beneficial society for all. The challenge of the twenty-first century is to evolve the current competitive system into a cooperative one.
International power-struggles have to be replaced by international cooperative systems with ethical rules. We need participation based on interdependence, rather than nations reacting and preserving self-interests.
The Heart and Mind of Humanity
The challenge in changing the world for the better will require a tremendous effort by all of us. We all have the potential to represent the ‘heart and mind of humanity’, and it is those people who have ‘the heart and mind’ to recognise the need for a foundation of change in the world.
The urgency of action is clearly immediate and it is time that we stop dithering and act now.
It is time to go global!
