Rebuttle Against: A New World Order

           “The Real New World Order” by Anne-Marie Slaughter was intended to promote the idea of transgovernmentalism as an end state to the world governments and economies, but unfortunately it seems more to be an essay on the current state of global affairs.  While Mrs. Slaughter did make some mention of the ‘New Medievalism’, it doesn’t seem plausible to think most people would look realistically at a world with no governments.  As far as transgovernmentalism is concerned I believe that it is just a transitional stage in the evolution to a one-world government.

            Mrs. Slaughter is correct when she writes about the dangers of having a global governing body with no means of checking its powers.  The problem with her argument for transgovernmentalism as an ideal form of international cooperation is that governance always seems to be in a state of flux.  In “The Future of Statecraft” by Fareed Zakaria the author gives example of this when he writes, “Over the past two centuries the central state wrested authority from the hundreds of duchies and other principalities on its terrain that once fielded armies and collected taxes.  It took over from the church that critical function, the education of the young.”  The consolidation of power appears to be a natural occurrence in respect to governments and authoritative organizations. 

            In the United States this fact is clearly evident in the Democratic Party.  In this current election year every ‘blue’ candidate for president has a myriad of new ways to expand the power and taxation of the government.  Whether they intend to force Americans to partake in nationalized healthcare, or confiscate the profits from oil companies, the end result is a governing body with more power.  While these initiatives may have a moral reasoning behind them, that is not the issue at hand.

            While I do agree to a certain extent with Anne-Marie Slaughter that transgovernmentalism may offer the best remedy to current global problems, I don’t think it is likely to stay that way for long.  As argued above, I believe that the natural tendency of government is to consolidate power, and when you transpose this on a global scale the idea is frightening.