On Global Governance in The 21st Century

By the end of the twentieth century, the world is witnessing the outcome of a dramatic sociopolitical evolution that has been taking place for over a century, namely the emergence of the age of applied science or technique and its sociopolitical consequences. The present drama has more serious consequences than those of the Renaissance. The Renaissance was characterized by a mental outlook that distanced itself from the Medieval era. It diminished the authority of the church, increased individualism, and established an age of democracy and subjective judgment, a framework that is apparently self-contradictory. In contrast, the evolving age of technique, although it reduces the authority of Religion, its power is social rather than individualistic, its governance is authoritative, and its value is mechanistic, thus leading to reduced human freedoms and humane values. This article examines the structure of the evolving global system, the reasons for its apparent negative impact on human values and development, the dangers to human survival if the present pattern of its governance and outcomes continue, and the possibility of establishing an effective global government that controls the extremes of the evolving system. It is not technology that is being blamed in the present analysis. It is the management of applied science and the choice of its present path that requires rehabilitation and monitoring. Such rehabilitation is possible since there are limits to reduced human freedom. However, the road is difficult as the discussion illustrates. But on the optimistic side, since the distribution of knowledge and information is becoming more widespread and equitable, the cost of control of human freedoms will exceed the benefit of control by the governing minority.