The Sovereignty Revolution

by Alan Craston. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000.



Most pleas for democratic global governance, including reforming of the United Nations came from outsiders, people against the current system, or are just empty words from leaders that whenever possible do what they can to preserve their nations-state privileges and undermine global action. Alan Cranston is obviously an insider, but in this little gem of a book he convincingly shows what he really thought and believed, that nations have to proceed to the deliberate pooling, through democratic processes of consent, of strictly limited and carefully defined portions of sovereignty to international institutions, either by reforming current ones or creating ones, if we are to have hope of solving the myriad problems with global dimensions that challenge us or threaten our own continuity as species in this planet.

Everything else is practically perfect. There are many other books about global governance, but The Sovereignty Revolution is so cogent, to the point, impassionate and convincing that I recommend it as first choice if you are going for the first book on this matter, as your next book if you are already well read and for sheer pleasure if you are a foremost expert on global governance. And then, enjoy the essays by Jane Goodall, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, and Jonathan Schell. Either if you agree or diasagree there is no way you can be dissapointed.