What Schuman
said about Globalization
What is the
real essence of globalization?
"The law of solidarity of peoples is asserting itself on our
conscience today. We feel shoulder to shoulder in the preservation of
peace, in our defence against aggression, in our fight against famine,
in the respect of treaties and in the safeguarding of justice and human
dignity."
Can nations escape the
effect of globalization?
"We have gained the conviction, by the demonstration of facts, that
nations, far from being able to be self-sufficient, have become partners
with each other; that the best way to serve one's own country is to
assure the cooperation of others by reciprocal efforts and by sharing
our resources."
Are people the central
issue in globalization?
"Continents and peoples depend more and more than ever on each
other, either for the production of goods and their sale, or for the
exchange of scientific research results as well as for the necessary
work force and the means of production. The political economy is
becoming inevitably a global economy."
The considered European
attitude to globalization respects fellow humans
"The consequence of this interdependence is that the fate- whether
for happiness or misery - of one people cannot leave others indifferent.
For a thinking European it is no longer possible to rejoice with
Machiavellian malice at the misfortune of a neighbour; all of us are
united for the better or the worse in a community of destiny."
Can Schuman's supranational
method be applied to problems of globalization?
"Europe has procured for all mankind the means to arrive at its
full potential. It is up to her to show a new direction, quite different
from that which leads to dominating others. This way accepts the
plurality of civilizations where each can be practiced with the same
respect for each of the others."
Is the United Nations the
answer to a world community ?
"The question must be asked whether a world community is realizable
and in what measure. We have seen up to now partial initiatives. Can we
conceive of having a universal organization with sufficient
effectiveness and including practically all the countries of the world?
Here we should look at the facts very frankly and realistically, not
only in the light of ideas that we may have but also in that of the
experiences that we have already had with the League of Nations and the
United Nations Organization. The existence of such a world community up
till now has been more symbolic than real. The links that unite
different countries are often fictitious, the divergencies striking....
The Security Council is paralyzed by the right of veto, which is a fault
in its structure but difficult as such to renounce: no-one can submit to
the law of numbers in an assembly of over a hundred such divergent
countries."
What are more realistic
bases for a world community?
"A real community requires at least common interests and
affinities. Countries don't come together as a group unless they feel
they have something in common. Above all what they hold in common must
include a minimum of trust. There should be also a minimum of identical
interests, without which they would revert to simple coexistence but not
cooperation. To understand each other and construct a close union, we
cannot rule out the drawing of distinctions in certain areas, but there
must be a sufficient number of bonds and common ideas."
How can unifying sectors
and interests be distinguished for a world community as happened in
Europe?
"To serve mankind is a duty equal to that which demands our loyalty
to the nation. And it is thus that we will proceed towards a concept of
a world where we discern more and more the vision and the identity of
that which unites nations, for what they hold in common, and where
conciliation can be made in areas that distinguish our nations or brings
them into opposition."
What is the world's priority problem and
therefore the source of one world supranational action today?
Our environmental crisis and climate change?
Nuclear, chemical and biological war?
World Poverty?
Population crisis and resources?
Planetary threats?
World terrorism?
Application of Schuman's method in other areas:
Theory and practice of
supranational method for Russia and Near East
The supranational approach to
post-Soviet globalization
Scenarios for healing the
continental European economy
A mathematical approach to
supranationalism
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