Building world democracy through the UN |
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Authors: | Jeffrey J Segall MBBS MRCP |
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Institution: | Editor, Medicine and War, Founder‐Convenor, INFUSA, and Joint Co‐ordinator, CAMDUN‐1 , 308 Cricklewood Lane, London , NW2 2PX , UK |
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Abstract: | The evolution of autonomous units of organized human society from tribes to sovereign nation‐states has been paralleled by a belief in a need for global unification under a religious or secular authority. A modern alternative to the subordination of nation‐state sovereignty to a higher authority is to restrain the excesses of the established world system by institutionalizing in the United Nations a democratic voice for the world public's opinions. This could be done by means of: (1) a UN Second ('we the peoples') Assembly or related proposal; (2) a UN Parliamentary Assembly to represent national parliaments; (3) an assembly representative of non‐governmental organizations affiliated with the UN or its Agencies and other bodies; (4) a UN‐grassroots system for information‐sharing and dispute‐solving. The paper summarizes the principles of these approaches, and outlines in more detail the multidisciplinary basis of the concept of a UN Second Assembly, the Penrose method for equitable voting power or distribution of seats in a world assembly, and the work of the International Network for a UN Second Assembly (INFUSA) including the initiative for a series of international Conferences on A More Democratic United Nations (CAMDUN). |
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Keywords: | World democracy United Nations |
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