It does not take much to trace the lineage of the global
governance movement. Beginning with the very first work on
international law, written by Herman Grotius in 1623, down
through the philosophical writings of Immanuel Kant and Karl
Krause and to the mid- 20th century novels of H.G. Wells, a line
can be drawn threading together advocacy of intellectuals and
political leaders for the establishment of some kind of global
authority to be placed in charge of governing mankind’s work and
activities. The growth of this movement springs largely from
utopian notions of the perfectibility of the world – that
mankind’s tendency towards violent conflict, the inequitable
distribution of wealth and the degradation of the environment
can only be cured by the pronouncements of a wise council of men
who dictate how conflict is to be resolved and the methods by
which the world’s assets are to be distributed. The
commonalities which bind together advocacy for global governance
today are fairly clear: - A belief that the nat