It’s worth trying: governing globalization

The world received its seven billionth person on the last day of October.
Whether welcomed as a blessing by adoring parents in a United States suburb or dreaded as a burden by impoverished parents in a Third World country, that little person’s quality of life will depend greatly upon this: “Every individual and every community shares in promoting and preserving the common good.”

That is stated as a presupposition in a bold new document by a Vatican council that says “orientation toward a world authority becomes the only horizon compatible with the new realities of our time and the needs of humankind.”

Although titled “Toward Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems,” the document by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace is more than an economic blueprint. It speaks to a need for the governance of globalization.

The Vatican council proposed a “global public authority” to deal with the challenges and opportunities presented by globalization and an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world. Peace, disarmament, human rights, food security and environment are among other concerns.

It is to be a supranational institution, not imposed but rising from a universal understanding of the common good.

“It is a matter of an authority with a global reach that cannot be imposed by force, coercion or violence, but should be the outcome of a free and shared agreement and a reflection of the permanent and historic needs of the world common good,” the council said.

It’s worth trying. Not much else has worked in recent history.

The United Nations has failed in many respects to live up to its promise. International discussion groups, such as the Trilateral Commission, are seen as the manifestation of an international conspiracy that is trying to create a one-world totalitarian state, or at least a New International Economic Order.

The idea for a global public authority is advanced by the church, but it is not sectarian. Its foundation is the social encyclicals of popes over last four decades.

Viewed from the American paradigm, the concept may be hard-pressed to find approval.

“The public logic of economic organization in our country is based on a sense of individualism that does not adequately correspond to human needs and personal dignity” Cardinal Francis E. George wrote in his latest book, “God in Action: How Faith in God Can Address the Challenges of the World.”

“If conceived on economic bases alone, society dissolves into a conglomeration of atomized individuals whose relationships with one another are characterized more by conflict than by cooperation or integration,” wrote Cardinal George.

In a mastery of understatement, the pontifical council’s document says that “a long road still needs to be traveled before arriving at the creation of a public authority with universal jurisdiction.”

It is not likely to occur in our lifetimes. Maybe by the time Baby Seven Billon has grandchildren it will be “possible to transform not only institutions but also lifestyles and encourage a better future for all peoples,” as the document says.

Then Baby Seven Billion and friends may live in a better-managed world, so “they ought to have a keen sense of belonging to the human family, which means sharing in the common dignity of all human beings.”

(Kent, now retired, was editor of archdiocesan newspapers in Omaha and Seattle. He can be contacted at: [email protected].)