The following is excerpted from the book:
Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution,
by Steve McIntosh.
© 2007 Published by Paragon House
For further excerpts, interviews and more, go to:
www.stevemcintosh.com


From Chapter 5, Integral Politics:

Is Global Governance an Unrealistic Fantasy?

If a world federation is to come about in the 21st century it will have to be based on some kind of union between the E.U. and the U.S. And among these two giants, the U.S. is clearly the most conservative and can thus be counted on to become the biggest obstacle to the movement for a world authority. However, as the integral worldview begins to emerge it will have a significant effect on the body politic of America.

We know from Paul Ray’s research that about 50% of the U.S. population is centered in modernist consciousness. And by looking at the history of cultural evolution we can anticipate that, even with postmodernism growing, modernist consciousness will continue to be the center of gravity in America for at least the next two or three generations. So an important goal for integral politics will be to convince modernists that global governance is an idea they can endorse. This seemingly unrealistic goal will become far more achievable as it becomes increasingly evident to modernists that without morally legitimate global law, the expanding global economy cannot be sustained. Now more than ever, it is becoming obvious that the health of America’s economy can only be assured when the health of the global economy is protected. As the century progresses and the economies of nation-states increasingly become part of a world economic system (diminishing the power of national governments), the need for effective democratic oversight of this system becomes increasingly acute. “To be effective, global markets demand global governance.”

During the industrial revolution of the 19th century, markets were completely unregulated. Although this produced significant economic development, it also resulted in growing poverty, misery, and gross inequality. As dynamic cultural systems, free markets create great wealth, but without democratic oversight these same markets also produce harmful effects on the societies in which they arise. Unless there are laws that prevent companies from effectively enslaving workers or polluting the environment, the companies willing to engage in such behavior will effectively out-compete their rivals. Moreover, as unregulated competitive markets develop, market forces naturally polarize resources—the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. By the end of the 19th century the destructive effects of these unregulated markets had resulted in the rise of the communist and anarchist movements that became a significant threat to democracy. And it was only through the gradual initiation of government controls, progressive income tax, and the rise of the welfare state that the social damage caused by free markets was brought within acceptable limits. This worked fairly well in developed countries throughout the 20th century—although free market economies continued to provide obscene riches for the few, and although many remained impoverished, the economies in most developed countries provided sufficient social safety nets and enough upward mobility to prevent the type of widespread social unrest witnessed at the end of the 19th century and up through the 1930s.

But now, as free markets continue to grow beyond the borders of nations, as the economies of individual nations become inextricably connected to the global economy, the absence of effective global law is resulting in the same destructive effects witnessed in the past. Although integral consciousness seeks to protect market economies, it also recognizes the need for markets to be fairly and effectively regulated in order to be sustainable. Thus as multinational corporations increasingly operate outside national boundaries, so too must the laws that regulate them not be constrained by national borders. Regulation of the global economy by the WTO and the IMF alone cannot effectively contain the naturally destructive forces of self-serving multinational corporations unless such regulatory bodies are themselves subject to the democratic oversight provided by a world federation. Will multinationals vigorously resist this? Although some responsible multinational corporations will recognize that such global laws will ultimately be for their own good, others will, of course, oppose such laws. But as Alexis de Tocqueville keenly observed, “Can it be believed that the democracy which has overthrown the feudal system and vanquished kings will retreat before tradesmen and capitalists?”

From a strategic perspective, it is not unreasonable to predict that as life conditions begin to threaten the sustainability of the global economy, the self-interested rationalism of the modernist majority in America and Europe will begin to see the wisdom and the necessity of global governance. Similarly, many of those with a postmodern worldview may be persuaded into seeing the wisdom of global governance because of the obvious benefits for human rights, the environment, and other postmodern concerns. But we can, of course, expect that very few of those with a traditionalist worldview will ever be convinced about the desirability of a world federation. Nevertheless, as cultural evolution unfolds in this century, the rise of the integral worldview and its championing of the political issue of global governance can be expected to gradually sway public opinion toward the wisdom of this solution. It is estimated that at the time of the American revolution, only about 10% of America’s population made meaning at the modernist level of consciousness. Yet this was enough to bring about the unprecedented rise of constitutional democracy. And similarly, we can anticipate that when integralists comprise approximately 10% of the population of the developed world, the integral worldview’s political agenda for global governance may become a reality.

There have been many periods in history wherein political changes that once seemed unthinkable came about in very short amounts of time. Consider these examples: In 1750 no one in America could imagine that they would ever go to war with England, but by the 1770s Americans in large numbers were willing to lay down their lives for the revolution. Similarly, in 1913 leaders of the suffragette movement thought it too soon to press for a woman’s right to vote in national elections; they thought it would take decades before they could hope for such an advance. Yet by 1919 the American constitution was amended to provide for universal women’s suffrage. And in 1980, few of us would have bet that in ten years Soviet communism would be completely defunct, and that in just over twenty years France and Germany would have the same currency.

/snip/

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