Ever since humans started getting smarter tens of thousands of years ago, we've banded together in groups and haven’t looked back since. As time progressed, these groups became villages, villages became establishments and then became civilisations. As more time passed, we saw the birth of territories and countries which led to the formation of governments.
At the dawn of the industrial revolution, countries began opening up to each other and before you knew it, globalisation had connected most of the countries into this interdependent system of trade and exchange. In very recent times, the internet made that even more convenient and different people from different countries are more connected than we ever were.
Talking of the internet, I am sure that you might have come across conspiracy theories regarding the Illuminati and their one world government agenda which they apparently call the New World Order. It is an idea that abolishes the concept of national boundaries and establishes a common political authority for all of humanity. It has been referenced to a lot in movies and TV shows.
Now, as the president of the USA would say, “I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of such an agenda”. I too don’t know if the theories are actually true. But it certainly has given us something to think about. And that is exactly what I want to do in this article. I want to have a rational analysis of this idea of a one world government. What would the benefits be and the drawbacks? Let’s dig in.
PROS
1. An End to Wars
If the whole world is one single entity, who would we go to wars with? Of course there is always a possibility of civil wars but the chances of a large scale, all out war reduces immensely and brings the whole of humanity closer to achieving world peace!
Wars are fought for different reasons. Some are for political reasons, some are for obtaining the resources of a country and some due to conflicts of interest. A one world government would solve these problems as everyone would be under the same umbrella.
That would mean that millions of lives could be saved each year.
2. Economic Simplicity
Do you know how complex the economic structure of the whole world is? Each country has its own currency and all these are traded with the other currencies of the world. There are stock exchanges and billions of transactions take place across borders each day.
Apart from this, each country has its own banks and we all know what a headache it can be to send and receive money within a country itself let alone from one country to another. Apart from this, some countries are still on a purely cash-based model where some are moving on to wireless payments involving no or little cash.
A one world government would mean one currency for the whole world. It will simplify a mountain of things which would make everyone’s lives much more easier. Also it would bring stability to the world’s economy as there would be only one currency.
3. One Race, The Human Race
Today, we identify ourselves according to the country we belong to. Now, that is not a bad thing at all. But imagine if the artificial borders that we have created for ourselves are erased by the proverbial eraser, we would no longer be Americans or Mexicans or Chinese or Australians. We would identify ourselves as only humans.
This will instil an environment of universal unity. We would be the citizens of the world. And in a world, where everyone has accepted that and that has become the general norm, it would put an end to discrimination, racism, sexism and a whole lot of other judgements that we see in today’s “divided” world.
And there is always the saying that "united we rise, divided we fall". This will be important particularly when we are facing our extinction in the events of an asteroid impact or even an alien invasion. Fighting as one could give us an edge!
Imagine the pace of technological advancements in such as world where all the brilliant minds available in the world are working together, building a synergy never seen before.
4. Better Resource Management
We know that the vital resources that we use in our daily lives are randomly distributed throughout the globe. Russia has a huge reserve of natural gas, the US has one-third of world’s coals and Saudi Arabia is rich in oil reserves.
But, if there is a one world government, all these resources will belong to the entire human race. Not citizens of a particular country. This will lead to a strategic use and development of these resources which will lead to a judicious use to sustain ourselves.
Also, the concept of resource deficit will no longer exist. That means that every single person in the world will get to reap the benefits of the resources found on the planet without worrying about the political alliance of his country’s government with other resource rich countries.
5. A More Equitable World
The world is in chaos today and that is no secret. Many countries are so developed that they don’t even have to remotely worry about some of the more basic things in life and there are some countries where people don’t even get one meal per day.
A one world government could solve this problem by distributing the world’s wealth in the direction of these under privileged countries (or regions, under OWG). This will lead to a more equitable lifestyle across the globe and reduce the income disparity that is growing at an alarming rate.
This will also lead to world peace as we know that one of the major causes of violence in the world today is scarcity. People are forced to do inhuman and unspeakable things just to be able to survive. All these might be able to come to an end.
CONS
1. An Elitist Model
Under a one world government, a group of people no matter how large, will have the control of the entire planet. They will literally have power over the whole world. This will give them immense power, which is essentially establishing an elitist model something akin to what we see in the movie series 'The Hunger Games' but on a much, much larger scale.
A wise man once said, “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely” Imagine such power in the hands of the wrong people. Imagine another Hitler-like person on the helm of things. It wouldn’t take much time for things to go haywire and our lives to be miserable. All it takes is one mad man or a group of a few of them.
A totalitarian system is good for no one. Nobody would like to live in a police state where you don’t have freedom of speech and would have to live in fear all the time. That is the setting for a dystopian movie, not suitable for real life.
2. Too Difficult to Establish or Sustain.
There are 190+ countries in the world and 7+ billion people. There are so many languages, religions, customs, ethnicities and ecologies that all of the diversity simply can’t be brought together under a unified system.
Eventually smaller group with similar interests and other similarities will come together, forming an alliance of sorts demanding their independence. Over time, all over the planet, several groups of people will begin doing that, leading to mass civil wars. We would be back to square one.
A one world government is a humongous thing to sustain. I wonder if it wouldn’t crumble underneath its own weight.
So, what do you think? Could a one world government ever become a reality? Or more importantly.....Should it?