Jul 8, 2009 at 11:34 AM
Veritas
Veritas
ENCYCLICAL LETTER CARITAS IN VERITATE OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVI - June 29th, 2009
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html
While there is much that is good in this letter, in that it lays out many of the world's ills with clarity, and has some useful answers, I take issue with one major finding. The letter calls for “a true world political authority”, or in other words, One World Government. This is the outmoded doctrine of the 1920s, of people like Jean Monnet1 which lead to the establishment of the European Union with its seemingly unstoppable aspiration of centralised power in Europe, through the EU government.
There is much wrong with Nation States, but a great deal right with them when they cooperate together for the global good. This can be seen in a small way, in the way that NATO has maintained peace in Europe for the last 60 years, through the agreement of cooperating sovereign states.
Thank God that we had one sovereign Nation State left in Europe, that thought differently enough to oppose the One World Government ambitions of Adolf Hitler. Despite the shortcomings of Nation States, their very existence, not under the power of One World Government, guarantees that some will disagree with the Empire building aspirations of others, when that becomes tyrannical, and will fight when that option becomes the last resort.
If Nation States are the problem, “a true world political authority” is not the answer. As the letter states, “such an authority would need to be universally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice, and respect for rights”. The only way that it can have effective power is for it to be supra-national. One of the driving forces behind Monnet's plan for the United States of Europe, was the failure of the League of Nations, as it lacked supra-national power, because it was just an intergovernmental organisation.
The letter suggests that the problem of tyranny can be avoided:
Para 57 In order not to produce a dangerous universal power of a tyrannical nature, the governance of globalization must be marked by subsidiarity, articulated into several layers and involving different levels that can work together. Globalization certainly requires authority, insofar as it poses the problem of a global common good that needs to be pursued. This authority, however, must be organized in a subsidiary and stratified way, if it is not to infringe upon freedom and if it is to yield effective results in practice.
So it needs ultimate authority, but must also contain some clauses of subsidiarity. The Pontiff doesn't see the conflicting nature of that proposal. It is either in charge, or others are in charge of it. There is no middle ground. The EU plays that game very well, allowing its states to legislate, through subsidiarity, for only minor unimportant issues. All major issues and legislation are the province of the supra-national body. As Monnet said, when he realised that an organisation without total power would be a failure: “I was impressed with the power of a nation that can say no to an international body that has no supranational power. Goodwill between men and nations is not enough.2”
No, Pontiff Benedict, One World Government is not the answer to this difficult problem.
While there is much that is good in this letter, in that it lays out many of the world's ills with clarity, and has some useful answers, I take issue with one major finding. The letter calls for “a true world political authority”, or in other words, One World Government. This is the outmoded doctrine of the 1920s, of people like Jean Monnet1 which lead to the establishment of the European Union with its seemingly unstoppable aspiration of centralised power in Europe, through the EU government.
There is much wrong with Nation States, but a great deal right with them when they cooperate together for the global good. This can be seen in a small way, in the way that NATO has maintained peace in Europe for the last 60 years, through the agreement of cooperating sovereign states.
Thank God that we had one sovereign Nation State left in Europe, that thought differently enough to oppose the One World Government ambitions of Adolf Hitler. Despite the shortcomings of Nation States, their very existence, not under the power of One World Government, guarantees that some will disagree with the Empire building aspirations of others, when that becomes tyrannical, and will fight when that option becomes the last resort.
If Nation States are the problem, “a true world political authority” is not the answer. As the letter states, “such an authority would need to be universally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice, and respect for rights”. The only way that it can have effective power is for it to be supra-national. One of the driving forces behind Monnet's plan for the United States of Europe, was the failure of the League of Nations, as it lacked supra-national power, because it was just an intergovernmental organisation.
The letter suggests that the problem of tyranny can be avoided:
Para 57 In order not to produce a dangerous universal power of a tyrannical nature, the governance of globalization must be marked by subsidiarity, articulated into several layers and involving different levels that can work together. Globalization certainly requires authority, insofar as it poses the problem of a global common good that needs to be pursued. This authority, however, must be organized in a subsidiary and stratified way, if it is not to infringe upon freedom and if it is to yield effective results in practice.
So it needs ultimate authority, but must also contain some clauses of subsidiarity. The Pontiff doesn't see the conflicting nature of that proposal. It is either in charge, or others are in charge of it. There is no middle ground. The EU plays that game very well, allowing its states to legislate, through subsidiarity, for only minor unimportant issues. All major issues and legislation are the province of the supra-national body. As Monnet said, when he realised that an organisation without total power would be a failure: “I was impressed with the power of a nation that can say no to an international body that has no supranational power. Goodwill between men and nations is not enough.2”
No, Pontiff Benedict, One World Government is not the answer to this difficult problem.
Note 1. Jean Monnet and Arthur Salter held senior positions in The League of Nations after The Great War. These two friends, a frenchman and a British Civil Servant between them sketched out the original blueprint for the “United States of Europe” with Monnet's influence extending all the way up to his death in 1979.
2. The Great Deception, Booker and North, Continuum, 2005, page 19
(Minor edit July 9th)
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