One World Democracy (Session 1)

Wars rarely break out inside a working federation such as Canada or India, and the book argues that this is no accident. The opening session on One World Democracy put that claim to the club with one of the book’s authors present.

About the Book

One World Democracy: A Progressive Vision for Enforceable Global Law by Jerry Tetalman and Byron Belitsos argues for a democratic world federation with the power to make and enforce law in the few areas, war above all, that no nation can manage alone. The World Citizen Book Club read it from July to November 2021.

About the Authors

Jerry Tetalman is a long-time Citizens for Global Solutions (CGS) activist and board member; Byron Belitsos is a writer and publisher. Tetalman joined the opening session to introduce the book.

Discussion Highlights

The session, on Saturday 10 July 2021, covered the first three chapters. Jerry Tetalman told how he came to write the book: a teenage anti-war protester who met the world federalist movement in the 1980s, he set out to educate himself as the United States prepared to invade Iraq in 2003, and wrote with Byron Belitsos. He then summarized the case that peace holds inside larger federations such as the European Union, Canada and India, that people rather than nation states are the true sovereigns, and that treaties without enforcement can be abandoned.

Members asked about using film and mass media, whether the history of consolidation is too European, how to reach people who do not see themselves as progressives, whether a shared second language such as Esperanto is needed, and what to do about authoritarian states. Tetalman favored both a union of democracies and an inclusive UN, and said world government should stay limited to global issues. The next session, on 14 August 2021, was set for chapters 4 to 6.

The World Citizen Book Club meets online on the second Saturday of each month and is open to anyone, whether you have read the book or not. See what the club is reading next.