Planetary Govt?
by John Rensenbrink

Dear Greens on all shores,

      Posing a vision of a planetary government may seem ridiculous as the bombs rain down in Yugoslavia and horrors beyond imagination are visited on the Kosovo Albanians. And yet, maybe in the thick of the struggle, it makes some kind of sense to imagine what a planetary government, written from the perspective of a Green activist, might look like. So here are my thoughts about it in this fourth piece on global *foreign* policy triggered by my attendance at the recent Paris Congress of the European Federation of Green Parties.

      I must say in advance that this fourth piece does not deal directly with the immense issue of force, especially military force.That, naturally, is the next question, a fifth piece for sure. Whether I will do such a piece, I'm not sure at this point, though I would like to focus it by imagining out loud what I sense is the immense dilemma facing Joschka Fischer, foreign minister of Germany, whom we listened to so intently in Paris. We should try to think with him, as it must be for him. I would like to know more.

Planetary Government? What Might It Look Like?

      What is the best form of government? This is a question that has been asked again and again throughout the ages. The question can be re-formulated in accordance with an ecological understanding of the way nature works, as follows: what is the best form of government for us now in this evolutionary moment?

      Our planet needs a universal government. It cannot be just any sort of government. It must be of a kind that protects, supports, and fosters the community of life; and it must be one that protects, supports, and fosters the power of human beings everywhere to consider and make choices.

      The community of life is diverse. An appropriate government is one that respects this diversity, both human and non-human diversity, and is one that is structured in a manner to encourage and support it.

      The most appropriate structuring of a planetary government, thus, is not through centralized and centralizing governments and super-corporations and their organizations (such as the World Trade Organization). The most appropriate structures are a multitude of self-oranizing formations at the base, the bio-regional base, that are then aligned together in federations: province-wide (or state-wide, as in the United States) federations, national federations, continental federations, and a planetary federation.

      The principle of federation encapsulates three structural intentions: the autonomy of the parts, the cooperation of the parts, and the unity of the whole through the multiple interactions of the parts.

Representative Government and Direct Democracy: Both!

      Two kinds of self-organizing formations at the bio-regional base are needed, and they parallel each other. One is in the tradition of representative government. The other is in the tradition of direct democracy. In representative government, political parties play a significant role. In direct democracy, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), caucuses of kindred minds, and the Internet are important catalysts for the thoughts, concepts, and direct concerns of the people.

      At the bio-regional base, therefore, throughout the planet, we may visualize two parallel chambers: a representative body elected by the citizens; and a people's assembly composed of the more active persons and groups in the community. They work together to govern the community.

      They also are the source for the statewide, national, continental, and planetary federations.

      Both the representative body and the people's assembly choose citizens in their community (other than from among themselves) to participate in the representative bodies and people's assemblies respectively at the state, national, and continental levels of decision-making. For the planetary federation, elections are held at the state level; to effect this, all the NGO delegates to the statewide federation will meet together to choose in a democratic manner a citizen of the state (other than themselves) to be that state's delegate to the planetary federation; similarly, the statewide chamber of representatives will meet together to choose a citizen of the state, other than themselves, to be a representative of the state in the planetary federation.

      To illustrate: The greater Bath/Brunswick community in Maine where I live, is one of five or six bio-regional areas in Maine. Under the proposed form of government, this community will have a chamber composed of representatives elected by the citizens of the community. The commumnity will also have a chamber composed of delegates drawn from durable and active NGOs and caucuses in the community. These chambers will work separately and together to guide and govern the affairs of the community.

      These two chambers will also select persons from the community, other than themselves, to be reps and delegates respectively to a Maine-wide federation; a U.S. federation; and a continental federation. For the planetary federation,the Maine-wide federation (that is, each chamber at that level) will choose from the Maine citizen body in a democratic manner one delegate and one representative for that federation.

      In the short term, the national federations in the world will probably continue to be the leading force. But this will gradually change as the bio-regional base and the various federations get used to the facts of their importance and learn to interact effectively in decision-making.

      At the planetary level, it may be necessary for the two chambers (the represenative body and the direct democracy body) to each name some of their me