The Constitutional Foundations of World Peace

Book excerpt: This book shows how significant a worldwide constitutional framework can be, both analytically and politically, in efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace. The authors are careful to avoid the pitfalls of legalism and moralism that have often afflicted discussion of world governance in the past, and their analyses are rooted directly within contemporary human struggles for peace, justice, prosperity, and environmentally sustainable societies. The authors demonstrate that when these struggles are examined in light of the planet's changing constitutional framework, their origins and future trajectories are more fathomable intellectually. By examining alternative images of world order, these authors uncover an abundance of practical yet bold policy recommendations for addressing and solving global problems. They also demonstrate that implementing desirable policies can indeed become politically feasible. This book is a compendium of new ideas for managing threats to peace, enhancing U. N. peacekeeping, establishing an effective global environmental authority, aiding the faltering global economy, nurturing the growth of democracy both locally and globally, protecting human rights and ethnic diversity, holding governments and intergovernmental organizations accountable to those they govern, and nurturing humanitarian values among all people.