A Confederacy of Confederations. ...

• Author: Box, Louk
• Position: Brief Article

MAKING IT LEANER AND CLEANER

If the United Nations remains just a confederation of States, it may become irrelevant; if it becomes a confederacy of confederations involving global civil society, it might meet the challenges through greater legitimacy.

A confederacy is "a league or compact for mutual support or common action", according to the dictionary. Confederation refers to being united by such a league. Although often applied to States, the notion applies just as well to autonomous associations, like labour unions. The essence lies in actor autonomy and a structured alliance for a common interest. Labour unions are autonomous bodies in civil society; States are assumed to be autonomous in international relations. Both can build confederations at the global level.

The question can be raised: Could autonomous civil society organizations associate themselves with States "for mutual support or common action"? Or one step further: Could confederations of such civil society organizations associate with a confederation of States? This sounds theoretical, but I hope to show that these questions directly affect the United Nations and its legitimacy.

Words incorporate meanings within historical contexts. For an American, "confederate" is likely to be associated with the Southern States in that drama of North American history the Civil War. To a Dutchman, it might be associated with the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic when the United Provinces fought their way to independence. Let us try to go beyond such meanings. A confederation allows its members to gradually transfer specific responsibilities to a common body. State sovereignty is maintained since the confederation is based on the very principle of autonomy. The United Nations follows this model in that States do not relinquish power or sovereignty, they pool it. The International Court of Justice in The Hague is an example; it can only give a verdict in cases which both parties to a conflict are willing to submit to it.

Not only States build confederacies, civil society organizations do as well. Sports, for example, are done in leagues, which can be considered as "compacts for common action". Global public interests are increasingly served by global confederations.

Civil society, or the network of public interest associations, is globalizing just like markets are. Markets are the structured exchanges of private interests; they have always operated under values grounded in civil society and...