Union Through Democracy

At the CGS 2022 Annual Conference on November 7, 2022, Dr. Tiziana Stella presented Clarence Streit’s model for achieving world federation through a union of democracies. As Executive Director of the Streit Council, Dr. Stella carried forward the legacy of Streit’s influential vision while exploring how it might be adapted to contemporary geopolitical realities.

Event Description

Dr. Stella traced the origins of Streit’s proposal to the late 1930s, when the American journalist proposed that the fifteen most advanced democracies form a federal union so powerful that authoritarian regimes would not dare to attack it. Streit reasoned that over time, other nations could join the union, eventually leading to a world federation. Dr. Stella presented this historical model and discussed how its core principles could be updated to address current political realities, including the evolving landscape of democratic governance and new threats to international stability.

Speakers

• Dr. Tiziana Stella, Executive Director, The Streit Council for a Union of Democracies; Specialist in American History, Transatlantic Relations, and Transnational Federalism

Policy Focus

• Clarence Streit’s model for a federal union of leading democracies as a pathway to world federation
• Adapting mid-twentieth-century federalist proposals to twenty-first-century political conditions
• The role of democratic solidarity in preventing conflict and promoting peace
• Building on existing transatlantic and inter-democracy institutions toward deeper integration