Village Democracy by John Papworth

Author:John Papworth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Decentralisation, radical, power, politics, trade, ecology, international affairs, war, population, environment, social disintegration, supermarkets, empires, economic theory, morality, democracy, society, europe, terrorism, political structure, local government, community, bureaucracy, media, political monopoly
ISBN: 9781845404611
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2013
Published: 2013-09-24T00:00:00+00:00

2 In 1997 administrative costs stood at £2,150 million and by 2001 had reached £2,625 million whilst overall per capita costs has risen in 2001 from £951.36 to £1,200.57 in 2003.

6: Resolving the Problem of War

Localised control of resources. - Unequal members of federations lead to domination by the most powerful. - UN peace a daydream. - Multiplicity of countries reduces risk of major war. - The ‘Truce of God’. - Medieval war was an outlet for aggression, modern war much less so but more destructive. - Local power emphasises morality, giant power emphasises power. - Influence of TV - Local communities to have reps on TV, radio and mass newspaper boards. - Outlaw armament production. - Lesson of Iraq war. - Aggression in male psyche. - Swiss example of peace. Is it based on costing ‘prosperity? - Contrary trends to localisation and giantism. - 19th Century concepts of centralised statehood dominate Arab Israel conflict. - Democracy involves citizen involvement.

If local communities have their hands on local resources the mere talk of a national government seeking to start a war will run into its own difficulties. All the guns and planes in the world are not much use without food and transport services. So, in the cause of peace, we can anticipate nothing less than the globalisation of localisation. In the long run it is doubtful if global peace can be secured in any other way. Current assumptions about securing peace are riddled with impracticabilities and unrealities. Currently there is a persistent belief that a vast unicellular, supranational authority, with sufficient military clout to enforce peace everywhere, will need to be established. It is a concept which runs into all the problems discussed here. Who would control such a body? How could it fail to become the catspaw of global multinational corporations? Could is possibly coexist with democracy and freedom, given too that any such authority would inevitably be beyond the capacity of the citizen body to control it on a democratic basis?

Current thinking in any case takes no account of an essential prerequisite for the successful working of any federation. History is eloquent that if the members of a federation are significantly unequal in size and strength it will only be a matter of time before the bigger members dominate it. This proved the case in ‘Germany’, which, after its formation by Bismark, soon became dominated by Prussia and in the USSR, which was dominated by Russia. What ensues is not so much a federation as an empire under the dominance of the most powerful member. It is noticeable that in the USA and in Switzerland, two of the most successful federations in the record, no single member is strong enough to dominate the rest. This does not of course resolve the problem of the power drives of any federation when it gets big enough to dominate other federations, as the USA does today. We can anticipate the prospect of China, or India, achieving a degree of power to rival that of the USA, especially when the power of the latter inevitably declines.

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