Editing World government (section)

==Cold War==
In January 1946, US Under Secretary of State, [[Sumner Welles]], replied to the proponents of world government on the pages of ''Atlantic Monthly''. From the beginning, he could not imagine the Soviet Union participating in a world government upon any other basis than that of a “World Union of Soviet Socialist Republics with the capital . . . in Moscow.”<ref>Boyer, Paul (1994). ''By the Bomb’s Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age''. (Chapel Hill), p 42, https://archive.org/details/bybombsearlyligh0000boye/page/41/mode/2up</ref> As Welles expected, the Soviets reacted negatively on the idea of world state. Soviet Foreign Minister, [[Vyacheslav Molotov]], warned of “world domination by way of… world government.” The Soviet media launched a shrill attack. Having exaggerated atomic destructiveness, the Soviets claimed, the American scientists pushed their “florid talk about a world state” which is a “frank plea for American imperialism.” The world state theory was described as a cover of the imperialist “aggressive plans” of “war-mongers” and is the “fascist Anglo-Saxon doctrine,” following the model of the “Hitlerite racialists,” exalting the Anglo-Saxons as a “superior race,” and promoting the “American age of world atomic empire.”  United World Federalists, in the Soviet view, wished “disarmed nations throughout the world under the surveillance of armed American police,” a plan copied from Hitler’s “[[New Order (Nazism)|New Order]]. ” Einstein was attacked as a proponent of “world domination” and the West was condemned for “reactionary Einsteinism.” UWF leaders, Cord Meyer Jr. and Vernon Nash, were labeled, respectively, a “cosmopolitan gangster” and a “cosmopolitan Judas.” After Garry Davis turned up in Paris, he was portrayed as a “debauched American maniac” who brought from America the idea of world government.<ref>[[Lawrence S. Wittner|Wittner, Lawrence S]]. (1993). ''Struggle against the Bomb: One World or None''. (Stanford University Press), p 291-294.</ref>

Having found the Soviets less cooperative than expected, the Western scientific community abandoned the debate how to create world government and engaged in the creation of the [[hydrogen bomb]].<ref>Bartel, Fritz (April 2015). “Surviving the years of grace: The atomic bomb and the specter of world government, 1945–1950,” ''Diplomatic History'', vol 39 (2): p 294.</ref> By 1950, the [[Cold War]] began to dominate international politics and the UN Security Council became effectively paralyzed by its permanent members' ability to exercise [[United Nations Security Council veto power|veto power]]. The [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 82]] and [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 83|83]] backed the defense of South Korea, although the Soviets were then boycotting meetings in protest.

While enthusiasm for multinational federalism in Europe incrementally led, over the following decades, to the formation of the [[European Union]], the Cold War eliminated the prospects of any progress towards federation with a more global scope. Global integration became stagnant during the Cold War, and the conflict became the driver behind one-third of all wars during the period.{{sfn|Mack|2005}} The idea of world government all but disappeared from wide public discourse.<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/world-government/ | title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy | chapter=World Government | year=2021 | publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University }}</ref>

===Post–Cold War===
As the Cold War dwindled in 1991, interest in a federal world government was renewed. When the conflict ended by 1992, without the external assistance, many proxy wars petered out or ended by negotiated settlements. This kicked off a period in the 1990s of unprecedented international activism and an expansion of international institutions. According to the ''[[Human Security Report 2005]]'', this was the first effective functioning of the United Nations as it was designed to operate.{{sfn|Mack|2005}}

The most visible achievement of the world federalism movement during the 1990s is the [[Rome Statute]] of 1998, which led to the establishment of the [[International Criminal Court]] in 2002. In [[Europe]], progress towards forming a federal union of European states gained much momentum, starting in 1952 as a trade deal between the German and French people led, in 1992, to the [[Maastricht Treaty]] that established the name and enlarged the agreement that the European Union is based upon. The EU expanded (1995, 2004, 2007, 2013) to encompass, in 2013, over half a billion people in 28 member states (27 after [[Brexit]]). Following the EU's example, other [[supranational union]]s were established, including the [[African Union]] in 2002, the [[Union of South American Nations]] in 2008, and the [[Eurasian Economic Union]] in 2015.