Letters | Is it time for a democratic world government to address global challenges?

Readers discuss support for stronger and more democratic global governance, and the implications of the drought in southern Africa

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the general debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, on September 24. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 2:30pm, 28 Sep 2024

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The United Nations Summit of the Future aimed for bold action. As our new study in the International Studies Quarterly shows, it can hardly be bold enough for the world’s citizens.

We surveyed more than 42,000 respondents in 17 countries worldwide, representing 54 per cent of the global population. Overwhelming international majorities supported the creation of a democratic world government to tackle pressing global challenges like climate change, war and extreme poverty.

The proposal we focused on is the following: “The establishment of a world government which should be democratic in that people worldwide would be represented through free and fair elections or other ways of citizen participation, and which should have the right and the power to deal with global issues like climate change, world poverty and international peace; while national governments would maintain control over issues that are not global.”

Between 2017 and 2021, we conducted the survey in Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Egypt, France, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Weighting each country equally, 69 per cent of respondents supported the proposal for a democratic world government focusing on global issues. When weighting countries based on their population sizes, 72 per cent across our survey countries supported that idea.

Majorities in all our survey countries – except for the US – supported the proposal. Egypt, India, Kenya, Indonesia, South Korea, Colombia and Hungary had the largest majorities in favour, ranging from 75 per cent to 82 per cent. In mainland China, 71 per cent supported the proposal. The US was the only surveyed country without majority support, with only 45 per cent in favour of the idea.