The Empire of the Romans filled the world, and when that Empire fell into the hands of a single person, the world became a safe and dreary prison for his enemies Edward Gibbon The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
For good commercial reasons the Roman World had expanded to its possible geographical limits, beyond which were nothing but deserts, oceans, and barbarians. It was the same with Imperial China. At least dissidents in present autocracies can live with the hope that somewhere are free men, or at least national enemies, who may still thumb their noses at the tyrant. A World Empire would close down dissent forever.
Such is the case made by the eloquent Ilya Somin for the Cato Institute [1] We do not always revere the pronouncements of this Institute as much as they might like. But there has always been an honesty of purpose about them, and we take this admonition very seriously indeed. In fact we would add another danger. The existence of nation states , each with different ways of doing things, potentially allows the growth of centres of excellence*, where new ways of thinking can be tried and tested. A single government might rapidly stifle progress, or at least slow it to a crawl.
Always beware of a good idea, especially when it is your own. We have spent three blogs advocating the benefits of a World Government. We hope that this one advertises the very real dangers sufficiently.
*The most intelligent person we have ever known believes in this concept
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