In this series we’ve discussed the possibility that a World Government might somehow form on this tiny planet. And of the advantages it might bring to current and future generations. We also mentioned the possible dangers, which are very real.
Readers have suggested two ways this might come about. Firstly through the gradual fusion of larger and larger economic and territorial blocks until only one remains in authority, Nice if it happened, but given our view of human nature, unlikely. History suggests that a single authority imposes itself only after military victory over rivals. This was certainly the case in China when the Qin Dynasty finally triumphed over the other warring states. It was so in the Mediterranean basin as the Roman Republic achieved hegemony. It would be interesting to speculate which the current warring states could yet emerge as the single sovereign. We would suggest the USA, The Peoples Republic of China, India and Russia as the principle contenders, with Nigeria as a possible long shot candidate. But all of this supposes the current economic and political framework remains intact. Current trends in climate, pollution and epidemiology make this unlikely.
For we live in a time of rapid ecological collapse. This is not unprecedented. The Classical world was ruined by a series of major epidemics and climate change, as Professor Harper has shown [1] There is good reason to suspect similar factors were at work behind the Late Bronze Age Collapse of the second millennium. [2] In both cases, what followed was not a single superpower. But rather an anarchy of warring little kingdoms, where trade was minimal and learning extinguished. In both cases it took several centuries for populations to claw their way back up to even a minimum level of Civilisation. And remember-they had one advantage which we do not. Humanity was then the only intelligent species in existence. Now there may be others waiting in the wings. We’ll look at that next time.
[1]Kyle Harper The Fate of Rome Princeton University Press 2018
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Bronze_Age_collapse
#world government #global warming # ecology #pollution #world war #china #usa #india #russian federation #nigeria
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