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 Too Dangerous—What are the Safeguards?

The viability and security of a world federation ultimately depends on the success of integral consciousness. As we discussed above, without the requisite integral consciousness, functional global governance is not feasible. But with the emergence of the integral worldview there appear the values and insights necessary for such an undertaking. This is similar to the relationship between modernism and democracy. Without enough modernist consciousness in a county’s population, functional democracy usually cannot be sustained. For example, some Latin American countries have constitutions that are almost identical to the U.S. constitution, yet these same countries suffer from horrific levels of government corruption and economic stagnation. Democracy continues to have trouble in Latin America because modernist consciousness has not yet been adequately developed within the population through education and the provision of economic opportunity. This is not to say that the U.S. government is free from corruption. But unlike in Latin America, when corruption becomes obvious, America’s modernist majority will not long stand for it, as we saw in the case of Richard Nixon. With the modernist worldview comes the values of individual initiative and an expectation of excellence that will not tolerate corruption. And with healthy modernism we see the emergence of a sense of civic duty expressed in John Kennedy’s famous admonition to “ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what you can do for your country.” It was this same sense of civic duty that baffled European monarchs when George Washington retired from the U.S. presidency after his second term. The traditional worldview could not fathom why Washington did not declare himself “King of America” when he had the chance.

With integral consciousness there is less emphasis on the value of personal status and the accumulation of wealth, so the enticements of corruption are less appealing to those with integral values. And because integralists do not generally depend on social approval for ego validation, they can champion unpopular causes. Also, because those with integral consciousness are psychologically sophisticated, most can see how unethical behavior actually causes more psychic damage to a person than any perceived gains that may accrue from such actions. However, integralists are not saints. The worldview of integral consciousness is only one evolutionary step above the postmodern worldview, and it would be naive to expect that integral values alone would safeguard a world federation from going astray. However, the constitutional structure of an integrally informed world federation will incorporate many legal safeguards designed to eliminate the types of dysfunction that have prevented good government in the past.

You may have heard the joke that the U.S. government was designed by geniuses so it could be safely run by idiots. Well, just as the wisdom of Enlightenment philosophy was used in the design of the separation of powers found in the U.S. constitution, so too will the new wisdom of integral philosophy be used to design the structure of a world federal constitution. First of all, unlike the U.S. government, which has all but eliminated the autonomy of its states, an integrally informed global authority would be truly federal. The jurisdiction of global law would be limited to matters that required global-level solutions. Nation-states would be left in charge of their own domestic affairs, subject only to the protections of the universal bill of human rights and the restrictions on excessive pollution of the environment. Second, the integral worldview recognizes that while many current problems can only be tackled at the global level, there are also many others that are best solved at the local level. Integral politics thus calls for structures that push power down as well as up, so that decisions can be made as close to the local level as possible. These ideas for the structure of a world federal constitution are discussed further in appendix A: A Proposal for Integral Global Governance.

In addition to the safeguards afforded by the overall morality of integral consciousness, and the safeguards derived from the application of integral philosophy in the design of the structure of a world federation, other safeguards would be found in the emergence of an integrally informed segment of the media. As the integral worldview develops and finds its application in the movement for world federation, it is inevitable that integralism will also influence the press. Integral consciousness’ enlarged understanding of evolution will help journalists see what is actually contributing to evolution and what is retarding it. So just as the world’s present democracies are subject to the influence of the media and the effect it has on voters, likewise will a global democracy be subject to the oversight of an integrally informed cadre of journalists.

However, as we consider the safeguards that will ensure that a world federation does not become a threat, we should also consider the threats associated with failing to initiate a system of global governance. According to Reinhold Niebuhr, “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” And this applies as much to the global level as it does to the national. Besides the threats associated with the continuing degradation of the environment, the biggest threat to the developed world is the growing problem of those with warrior consciousness (or pathological versions of traditional consciousness) acquiring and using the powerful technologies created by modernism. Modernist technologies are dangerous enough in the hands of the modernists themselves, but when the power of these technologies is wielded by levels of consciousness that have not earned this power through their own cultural evolution, this has the effect of destabilizing the civilization that originally created the technology. This applies not only to weapons technology, but also to communications technology and the internet as well. As consciousness continues to evolve, and as the diversity of the different types of consciousness that share our planet increases, this problem of unearned power becomes acute. However, this is exactly the kind of global dilemma that a world federation would be able to effectively address by controlling the production and distribution of weapons and by having better oversight of the global economy.

Again, the world already has a de facto system of global politics. But this existing system cannot really protect us from the host of growing global threats we’ve discussed. So the right question is not whether a system of global governance would be too dangerous, but whether a more formal and intentional system would be actually less dangerous than the system we currently have.

/snip/

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