Thus we are again brought round to our vital issue, that of the amount
and kind of cession of sovereignty required for an effective
International Government. It may be the case that it will be impossible
to induce a sufficient number of the great States to transfer the
ultimate right of waging war to a representative International
Government, or to cede to such a Government the right to legislate on
international relations with power to enforce obedience to these laws.
There are, however, many of us who hold that these powers are essential
to an international arrangement which shall effectively guarantee the
peace of the world. The abandonment of the sovereign right to make war
is essential for the future security of peace. Legislative and executive
powers for an International Government are essential to obtain by
pacific means those changes in the political and economic relations of
peoples which hitherto have only been attainable by war. No merely
statical settlement will suffice. Great new issues of national
controversy or of economic needs will certainly come up afresh for
settlement, and until some stable method of government is established
with power to determine and enforce the equities and the utilities they
represent, recourse to the arbitrament of war will still be likely.
But granting that national government does not represent a final form of
political structure, and that some federal internationalism is now
practicable, is it possible to hope or to expect that by a single
stride, or by a series of rapid strides, the sovereignty of national
states will submit to so much diminution as is involved in the more
advanced scheme of international government? Most historians, statesmen,
and political philosophers will, I think, hold that so large and rapid a
process of development is impracticable, however desirable in theory it
might be. It will be necessary, they insist, to take one step at a time,
to preserve as closely as possible the principle of continuity, and not
to attempt to move further and faster than circumstances and the
necessities of the time compel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account