At the moment there are 122 states which are members of the United Nations.  There are perhaps an additional score of nations which have applied for membership or which might be accepted if they made an application.  Accept this rounded figure, and we have perhaps 140 nations or potential nations on the planet.  Some are long established and stable.  Other nations are new-born, with small populations, few resources and minimal means of defense or offense.  By and large this is the family of nations which might be coordinated into an effective world authority which would be responsible for order, decency and peace in a federally coordinated world.

World authority, to be effective and reasonably stable, must be equipped with sufficient delegated powers to maintain orderly and decent relations between its members, establish peace, and carry out policies necessary to provide and promote ecological and sociological welfare.  To achieve such results it must have a built-in balance between central authority and local-regional self-determination.  It must also enjoy sufficient elbow-room to provide for social change and for consistent social improvement.

The goal of world government, as of any political enterprise that pretends to represent human needs, will be social stability, security, efficiency of service, and enlarged opportunities for citizens to speak and act for themselves, directly or through their representatives, at all levels.  Politics is the theory and practice of the possible in any given situation.  Executives and administrators in Los Angeles, London and Tokyo or in the United States, Britain and Japan will deal with public transportation, public education and public law and order in terms of general principles such as those stated in the opening sentences of this paragraph.  They will also face specific situations arising out of climate, access to raw materials, custom, habit and other ecological and cultural factors which differ profoundly from continent to continent, nation to nation, city to city and district to district in the same nation.

Human communities have sought and found different means of dealing with the problems of community administration.  At one extreme of social administration are various types of arbitrary, personal dictatorships.  The Greeks called them tyrannies—­arbitrary rule by individuals or small groups subject only to their own decisions.

At the other extreme are social groups that arrive at decisions as the outcome of discussion in which all group members may take part.  Group decisions may require unanimity or they may be the outcome of voting, with a majority or plurality vote carrying with it the right and duty to put decisions into effect as part of the public life of the community.

Various forms of government have been established locally and regionally.  At the level of a civilization, the government has been established almost universally as the outcome of armed struggle and military conquest, and has been exercised through the use of armed force in the hands of armed minorities.