First, if America is to become the locomotive of global change, it must alter its relationship with the rest of the world. From being a conventional nation state, it must move to act as the world’s capital. This implies more US cooperative interaction in global affairs. It implies more global cooperative interaction in US affairs. Americans must be educated to accept that.
Secondly, to create a federal world order, a new tier of regional groupings of nation states would have to be established. These regional groups would have common economic and security arrangements that facilitate the creation of a self-operating global security balance. The areas to start with for introducing such change would be the Israel-Palestine-Jordan triangle in West Asia and the Indo-Pak-Afghan-Bangladesh-Sri Lankan-Nepal grouping in South Asia.
Thirdly, to reform the global economy, greater transparency and wider participation in decision-making would be required. Across industry, this could be achieved by introducing profit-sharing for employees in all units, and simultaneously making major board decisions transparent to them. Greater democracy in industry and business would restrain greed and enhance accountability.
Fourthly, to achieve total nuclear disarmament and contain terrorism, the UN must be reformed to become a democratic world government. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other world bodies would have to operate under the UN. The veto power in the Security Council would have to be abolished. The Security Council would have to be restructured to give judicious representation globally. A second house of the General Assembly would have to be created based on population with directly elected members from across the world.
All this may seem a tall order. But for genuine change, nothing less will do. Thanks to advanced communication, technology is now a comparatively level playing field to propagate ideas. President Obama may achieve all the goals outlined above in his quest for change. He may achieve none. Regardless, India should pursue its own agenda, hopefully with America, and if necessary, without America.
(Puri can be reached at rajinderpuri2000@yahoo.com)
