Globalisation needs Democracy!


Globalisation is propelled by the "global players" - globally acting corporations behaving like transnational superpowers constricting the influence of the traditional nation-states.

Who then is still defending our global civil rights? Can nation-states act transnationally, or do they merely block one another? Is the traditional idea of the separation of powers rendered obsolete? Shouldn't we take money (and the media) into consideration as the "fourth power"? Does the geopolitical division of people into nation-states reflect the spirit of modern times? Could we learn from Coca-Cola, Shell and Microsoft how interests can be realised at a global level?

These questions led to the proclamation of the First TRansnational Republic whose citizens are not defined through blood or birthplace but through a similarity in their minds and their communal spirit.

The First Transnational Republic

The United Transnational Republics are dealing with the question how globalisation could be aligned with democracy. The initial points are the following considerations:

  • transnational corporations are more influential than most nation-states.
  • the classical separation of powers (legislative, judicative, executive) needs to be expanded to include money as the "forth power".
  • nation-states cannot represent their citizens' transnational interests, as transnational and national interests typically contradict each other (e.g. Bush and the Kyoto Protocol).
  • at the time being there is no transnational citizen representation - the UN is an assembly of various national interests.

    • Since in our globalised world there is no citizen representation on a transnational level, today's situation could be compared to a nation-state that has no national government but only city mayors. In such a nation-state governed by mayors, many topics of national interest could hardly be organised (transport, education, health, environment...). To represent transnational citizen interests, an additional instance responsible only for transnational matters needs to be created: the United Transnational Republics.

    By introducing the United Transnational Republics (UTNR), the existing system of political representation - which is still limited to the national level - does not need any radical alteration: rather than a radical reform, the current system is simply being expanded by one federal and democratic level. This new level is focusing on the transnational matters that are resulting from globalisation.

    Therefore, national matters will still be dealt with within the various nation states and international matters within the United Nations, while transnational matters then fall into the responsibility of the UTNR.

    Within the assembly of the UTNR, each Transnational Republic (TNR) has the voting power in relation to the number of citizens it is representing. Following the principle "All power originates in the individual and is not alienable." each person keeps the free choice of TNR to be represented by. This does not only mean that changing between TNRs is always a possibility, but also to start a new TNR. Other than nation states, TNRs are communities based on similarity in mindset, rather than on birthplace or heritage. TNRs thereby are subject to an ongoing competition amongst each other.