The Earth Constitution Institute
At the dawn of a New Millennium, Humanity has a Choice:
Unite for the benefit of All, or perish Together
Unite for the benefit of All, or perish Together
Over the past few centuries, paradigm-shifting advancements in science and technology have made it possible for humanity to take control of our planet’s destiny as never before. Industrial progress empowers us to overcome scarcity if we choose to distribute resources equitably. Rapid transportation and digital communication enable us to act together as one global community, for the first time in history.
But these same breakthroughs also give us the power to destroy ourselves and the planet we share. Today, humanity can collect free energy from the Sun — or we can cause catastrophic climate change. We can provide nutritious food, clean water, advanced health care, and homes for billions of people — or we can continue investing in weapons of mass destruction that could wipe out the human race.
But these same breakthroughs also give us the power to destroy ourselves and the planet we share. Today, humanity can collect free energy from the Sun — or we can cause catastrophic climate change. We can provide nutritious food, clean water, advanced health care, and homes for billions of people — or we can continue investing in weapons of mass destruction that could wipe out the human race.
The Earth Constitution Institute is committed to a transformed future, which is why we embrace the new reality of holism and interdependence in the Digital Age:
- A world in which the human rights and dignity of every person on Earth is respected;
- Where the most important decisions are made by humanity together, democratically;
- A world without war, where conflicts are resolved peacefully; and
- Where the commons — such as our forests, oceans, atmosphere, ecosystem, and space — are sustainably preserved and governed with everyone’s best interests.
Time is short, and the need is great. That’s why ECI has been working for this cause for the past 60 years.
Next Page: Our History
Learn More about Our Vision and Values:
"Building the World Parliament" Conference
Declaration of Government and Citizen Responsibilities
under the Earth Constitution
Prologue: A dynamic and vibrant democracy necessarily requires the existence of citizenship within a community of rights and responsibilities. When democracy exists in human affairs, the persons whose dignity, rights, equality, and consent are thus institutionalized are transformed from mere individuals forced to obey arbitrary laws by police or military authorities to citizens morally responsible to one another and to the society as a whole. A community of rights and responsibilities emerges that is a very special form of human association. Every one of one’s rights becomes complemented by duties and obligations to other persons and the community. If a citizen has a right, then this automatically and necessarily means that government and other citizens have duties with respect to that citizen and the community of which that citizen is a part. One cannot assign responsibilities or duties without simultaneously recognizing corresponding rights. The two features of democracy form an inseparable conceptual and practical whole.
To be part of an institutional framework that recognizes one’s human dignity is to be politically recognized as a citizen, not merely a subject. Our rights embodied in a democratic political framework necessarily engender moral duties to society. We become co-participants in the ongoing development of events, laws, and institutions, and thus morally responsible to our fellow citizens, the common good, and future generations. Loyalty to a genuine community of rights and responsibilities becomes a living force that binds the consent of the governed together within a community of mutual duties and obligations. Democracy not only recognizes our inalienable dignity as human beings, but it raises us to an even higher level of dignity by making us responsible to society and to our fellow citizens within a community of rights and duties. The honest and trustworthy exercise of responsibilities entails understandings and skill development that require education for citizens. Rights cannot be adequately protected unless both citizens and those in government are adequately educated to perform their responsibilities.
This resolution, therefore, draws upon the framework and content of the Earth Constitution (e.g. Articles 8.2.1, 12, and 13), as well as existing World Legislative Acts and Resolutions of the Provisional World Parliament (e.g., WLAs 26, 32, and the Resolution on the Spirit of Global Government), and supplements these in the spirit and letter of the Constitution by emphasizing both the conceptual framework of citizen and government responsibilities and the obligations of both citizens and government to educate themselves in the concepts and skills of communicative dialogue directed toward mutual understanding that constitute practical corollaries of the principle of respect for the dignity of all persons within the authentic democratic rule of law. (For purposes of future reference, this nexus of concepts shall be called “the responsibility principle.”)
1. The first principle of authentic democracy, therefore, is the dignity of all persons as human beings. This means persons ought not be manipulated, dominated, deceived, or dehumanized as if they were mere things. Torture is prohibited, as is imprisonment without proper due process of law, as are lying and deceit to the population. The deceitful use of people to achieve ends to which they are not a party is prohibited to any government that approximates genuine democracy. All these kinds of activities dehumanize people, turning them into mere things to be manipulated, and violate our inherent human dignity. This inherent dignity must be institutionalized in concrete systems of rights, due process procedures, and other democratic protections.
1.1 It is the responsibility of all agents and representatives of the Earth Federation to respect the dignity of every human being in both word and deed. This dignity is presupposed by democracy itself and by the ideological and communicative process that is the foundation of authentic democracy. It is also the responsibility of all educational institutions receiving support from the Earth Federation (as outlined in WLA # 26) to encourage a dialogical framework of educational development that presupposes this dignity and equality of all participants. To the extent that both citizens and representatives of the Earth Federation develop within an open, honest, and transparent framework of discussion and communicative dialogue, human dignity will become ever-more widely recognized and respected.
1.2 Corporate entities do not have dignity and cannot have the rights that adhere to natural persons. Corporations can properly be granted conditional powers but not rights. Conditional powers and specific corporate mandates are granted through the procedures of democratic government. “Inalienable rights” (Earth Constitution, Article 12) can only be protected by government with regard to natural persons, just as only natural persons can have human dignity. Corporate entities or “legal personhood” necessarily involves only a grant of conditional powers by government and a correlative responsibility and accountability to government for the exercise of those powers.
2. The second principle of democracy is the idea that all people have human rights that are inalienable. This derives from our inviolable human dignity. This does not necessarily suggest the idea that a priori attributes somehow inhere in a human individual from birth. It means, rather, that constitutions such as the Earth Constitution must specify those rights that are beyond the power of government to touch. Democratic freedom is not worth much if government can suspend or alter fundamental protections of persons through the passage of laws or suspension of due process requirements.
It is the responsibility of all agents and representatives of the Earth Federation to recognize and respect those rights designated by the Earth Constitution as inalienable. It is also the responsibility of all the aforementioned educational institutions to assist students to develop awareness of these rights and their functions within a democratic system premised on tolerance, mutual respect, and open dialogue and debate. In addition, it is the responsibility of all corporations and businesses worldwide to respect and honor these rights. It is the responsibility of all citizens within the Earth Federation to respect these rights in all other persons and to recognize the inseparability of these rights with corresponding duties.
3. The third principle of democracy is universal political equality within a context of reasonable economic equality. This is implicit in the first two principles and means that democracy cannot function unless all adult human beings, who are subject to laws and decisions that affect them, have a right to a basic political equality of voice allowing them to participate in this decision-making process. In cases of large populations, this participation often takes the form of voting for representatives who make decisions on behalf of the population, within a context of citizen oversight and transparency.
It is the responsibility of the agents, representatives, and laws of the Earth Federation to promote reasonable political and economic equality among the citizens of the Federation. We recognize that Articles 12 and 13 of the Earth Constitution address this responsibility very effectively. Vast differences in wealth, education, or social status translate into unreasonable inequality of political influence. It is the responsibility of government, educational institutions, businesses, families and private individuals to recognize the essential function of reasonable equality within democratic government and to promote this in word and deed.
4. The fourth principle of democracy is the existence of a public space necessary for genuine communication. The free exchange of ideas and the development of a genuinely communicative dimension are essential to any notion that the people are the source of legitimate authority in government. Communicative public space is to be distinguished from the early-modern liberal democratic idea of a “free marketplace of ideas.” Ideas do not fit well into the capitalist model of supply and demand, and their truth or wisdom certainly is not a matter of the whims of popular consumption and taste. Communicative public space requires institutionalized spaces for discussion that are free from dog-eat-dog political competition and sloganeering as well as from corporate public relations and advertising propaganda. The capacity for reasoned discourse and debate, intimately connected with our human dignity, must find ample space within any society claiming to be a democracy.
It is the responsibility of the agents, representatives, and laws of the Earth Federation to promote development and maintenance of ample public space allowing for genuine communication and dialogue within all the localities of the Federation as well as among the peoples of Earth. One especially important mechanism for this will be the development and protection of a free internet, email, blog, and website system available to all citizens of the Earth Federation. It is the responsibility of the aforementioned educational institutions to take a leadership role in the promotion of institutions and cultures revolving around authentic, open, and transparent dialogue, debate, and communicative interaction locally, nationally, and within our planetary venue.
5. The fifth principle of democracy is the idea that government only functions legitimately with the consent of the governed and active participation of the governed in formulating the laws under which they live. Governmental authority to legislate and enforce laws is predicated on an unforced consent to these laws by the population. This means that consent must not be “manufactured” or engineered through government propaganda, intimidation, pressure to conformity, a corporate controlled media system, or any other method, but must be the product of free exchange of ideas within a democratic framework. As this is sometimes expressed, ultimate sovereignty belongs to the people, and only their free consent can create legitimate political obligation to respect and obey the laws. The people have the right to withdraw allegiance from any government that seriously violates their consent, dignity, equality, or human rights.
It is the responsibility of the agents, representatives, and laws of the Earth Federation to protect the transparency and integrity of the law-making process so that there is no doubt among reasonable citizens of the Earth Federation that they have consented in principle to the laws made in their name. Even minorities whose opinion is overruled every time a majority decision is taken should be able to recognize and respect the integrity of the process through which the decision has been made and hence consent to the laws themselves. It is the responsibility of the aforementioned educational institutions to assist students in developing a dialogical and communicative ability through which they can both participate in the process of giving consent to the laws made in their name as well as critically evaluate and appreciate the integrity and transparency of the democratic processes informing the Earth Federation government. It is the responsibility of the Earth Federation Civil Service Administration Article (8.2.1) to build into civil service training and certification standards of dialogical competency that must be met by all persons receiving civil service certification.
6. The sixth principle of democracy requires a constitutional-legal framework and community spirit that reduces as much as possible the use of force in human affairs. It entirely eliminates war, which is always the antithesis of democracy and internally destroys the democracy of countries as well as the communicative intelligence of citizens. Democracy also works to eliminate force in the form of political violence (such as repression or arrest of those with dissenting ideas). The legitimate use of force by democratic government requires effective legal restraints and systems of accountability for police and government officials. It also requires the principle of use of minimum force necessary in arresting lawbreakers and otherwise keeping order as well as careful avoidance of the use of force against any and all innocent bystanders. It absolutely prohibits the use or threat of force, fear, or intimidation as a form of political control of the population or against law-abiding nonviolent dissenters.
6.1 It is the responsibility of all agents, representatives, and laws of the Earth Federation to reduce as much as possible the use of force within human affairs, to eliminate war entirely, and to create the institutions necessary for the adjudication, reconciliation, or mediation between conflicting individuals, corporate entities, or governmental units within the Earth Federation. It is the responsibility of the aforementioned educational institutions, as addressed in WLA # 26, to promote reflection on the deleterious effects of violence in human affairs and the need for a communicative framework that necessarily requires both the absence of violence and the threat of violence. It is also their responsibility to educate citizens in the principles and techniques of communicative dialogue.
6.2 The responsibility to promote communicative dialogue and mutual understanding is also emphasized in WLA #32, the Conflict Resolution Act, which is directed toward minimizing violence in human affairs. It is the responsibility not only of the Department of Conflict Resolution and all other governmental agencies, but of all the citizens of the Earth Federation to promote the tolerance, mutual respect, and communicative openness that are indispensible for the effective and substantial reduction of the use or threat of force and violence from human affairs. This responsibility necessarily requires universal education and training in the processes of communicative dialogue and mutual understanding.
7. The seventh principle of democracy is representation of the common good of the whole. Within a framework of freedom, citizens soon develop a loyal community of rights and duties in which the common good of the whole becomes a matter of utmost importance. Democratic government that represents them must embody this concern. The notion of the common good of the whole logically includes the idea that the good of future generations must be taken into account. Legitimate government does not represent the interests of a segment of the population. Concern for the environment, for the general and widespread prosperity of citizens, for preservation of resources for future generations, and for protecting the rights and political voice of all citizens equally are understood as representing the common good.
It is the responsibility of all agents, representatives, and laws of the Earth Federation to consider the impact of their ideas, actions, and laws on the common good as this can be formulated with suitable and reasonable variations for the local, national or mundial (world) levels. This responsibility also applies to the aforementioned educational institutions as well as citizens of the Earth Federation. WLA # 26 requires pedagogical frameworks allowing students to reflect on and develop a “good government index” and thereby reflect on the concept of the common good, what this implies, and how it relates to individuals, businesses, and governmental responsibilities. The concept of the common good necessarily includes development of a global framework that promotes, institutionalizes, and makes possible all of the above six principles and sets of responsibilities enumerated within this document.
* * * * * * * * * *
A Resolution by the 12th Session of the Provisional World Parliament Kolkata, India, December 28, 2010
Attested:
Eugenia Almand, JD, Secretary
Provisional World Parliament
under the Earth Constitution
Prologue: A dynamic and vibrant democracy necessarily requires the existence of citizenship within a community of rights and responsibilities. When democracy exists in human affairs, the persons whose dignity, rights, equality, and consent are thus institutionalized are transformed from mere individuals forced to obey arbitrary laws by police or military authorities to citizens morally responsible to one another and to the society as a whole. A community of rights and responsibilities emerges that is a very special form of human association. Every one of one’s rights becomes complemented by duties and obligations to other persons and the community. If a citizen has a right, then this automatically and necessarily means that government and other citizens have duties with respect to that citizen and the community of which that citizen is a part. One cannot assign responsibilities or duties without simultaneously recognizing corresponding rights. The two features of democracy form an inseparable conceptual and practical whole.
To be part of an institutional framework that recognizes one’s human dignity is to be politically recognized as a citizen, not merely a subject. Our rights embodied in a democratic political framework necessarily engender moral duties to society. We become co-participants in the ongoing development of events, laws, and institutions, and thus morally responsible to our fellow citizens, the common good, and future generations. Loyalty to a genuine community of rights and responsibilities becomes a living force that binds the consent of the governed together within a community of mutual duties and obligations. Democracy not only recognizes our inalienable dignity as human beings, but it raises us to an even higher level of dignity by making us responsible to society and to our fellow citizens within a community of rights and duties. The honest and trustworthy exercise of responsibilities entails understandings and skill development that require education for citizens. Rights cannot be adequately protected unless both citizens and those in government are adequately educated to perform their responsibilities.
This resolution, therefore, draws upon the framework and content of the Earth Constitution (e.g. Articles 8.2.1, 12, and 13), as well as existing World Legislative Acts and Resolutions of the Provisional World Parliament (e.g., WLAs 26, 32, and the Resolution on the Spirit of Global Government), and supplements these in the spirit and letter of the Constitution by emphasizing both the conceptual framework of citizen and government responsibilities and the obligations of both citizens and government to educate themselves in the concepts and skills of communicative dialogue directed toward mutual understanding that constitute practical corollaries of the principle of respect for the dignity of all persons within the authentic democratic rule of law. (For purposes of future reference, this nexus of concepts shall be called “the responsibility principle.”)
1. The first principle of authentic democracy, therefore, is the dignity of all persons as human beings. This means persons ought not be manipulated, dominated, deceived, or dehumanized as if they were mere things. Torture is prohibited, as is imprisonment without proper due process of law, as are lying and deceit to the population. The deceitful use of people to achieve ends to which they are not a party is prohibited to any government that approximates genuine democracy. All these kinds of activities dehumanize people, turning them into mere things to be manipulated, and violate our inherent human dignity. This inherent dignity must be institutionalized in concrete systems of rights, due process procedures, and other democratic protections.
1.1 It is the responsibility of all agents and representatives of the Earth Federation to respect the dignity of every human being in both word and deed. This dignity is presupposed by democracy itself and by the ideological and communicative process that is the foundation of authentic democracy. It is also the responsibility of all educational institutions receiving support from the Earth Federation (as outlined in WLA # 26) to encourage a dialogical framework of educational development that presupposes this dignity and equality of all participants. To the extent that both citizens and representatives of the Earth Federation develop within an open, honest, and transparent framework of discussion and communicative dialogue, human dignity will become ever-more widely recognized and respected.
1.2 Corporate entities do not have dignity and cannot have the rights that adhere to natural persons. Corporations can properly be granted conditional powers but not rights. Conditional powers and specific corporate mandates are granted through the procedures of democratic government. “Inalienable rights” (Earth Constitution, Article 12) can only be protected by government with regard to natural persons, just as only natural persons can have human dignity. Corporate entities or “legal personhood” necessarily involves only a grant of conditional powers by government and a correlative responsibility and accountability to government for the exercise of those powers.
2. The second principle of democracy is the idea that all people have human rights that are inalienable. This derives from our inviolable human dignity. This does not necessarily suggest the idea that a priori attributes somehow inhere in a human individual from birth. It means, rather, that constitutions such as the Earth Constitution must specify those rights that are beyond the power of government to touch. Democratic freedom is not worth much if government can suspend or alter fundamental protections of persons through the passage of laws or suspension of due process requirements.
It is the responsibility of all agents and representatives of the Earth Federation to recognize and respect those rights designated by the Earth Constitution as inalienable. It is also the responsibility of all the aforementioned educational institutions to assist students to develop awareness of these rights and their functions within a democratic system premised on tolerance, mutual respect, and open dialogue and debate. In addition, it is the responsibility of all corporations and businesses worldwide to respect and honor these rights. It is the responsibility of all citizens within the Earth Federation to respect these rights in all other persons and to recognize the inseparability of these rights with corresponding duties.
3. The third principle of democracy is universal political equality within a context of reasonable economic equality. This is implicit in the first two principles and means that democracy cannot function unless all adult human beings, who are subject to laws and decisions that affect them, have a right to a basic political equality of voice allowing them to participate in this decision-making process. In cases of large populations, this participation often takes the form of voting for representatives who make decisions on behalf of the population, within a context of citizen oversight and transparency.
It is the responsibility of the agents, representatives, and laws of the Earth Federation to promote reasonable political and economic equality among the citizens of the Federation. We recognize that Articles 12 and 13 of the Earth Constitution address this responsibility very effectively. Vast differences in wealth, education, or social status translate into unreasonable inequality of political influence. It is the responsibility of government, educational institutions, businesses, families and private individuals to recognize the essential function of reasonable equality within democratic government and to promote this in word and deed.
4. The fourth principle of democracy is the existence of a public space necessary for genuine communication. The free exchange of ideas and the development of a genuinely communicative dimension are essential to any notion that the people are the source of legitimate authority in government. Communicative public space is to be distinguished from the early-modern liberal democratic idea of a “free marketplace of ideas.” Ideas do not fit well into the capitalist model of supply and demand, and their truth or wisdom certainly is not a matter of the whims of popular consumption and taste. Communicative public space requires institutionalized spaces for discussion that are free from dog-eat-dog political competition and sloganeering as well as from corporate public relations and advertising propaganda. The capacity for reasoned discourse and debate, intimately connected with our human dignity, must find ample space within any society claiming to be a democracy.
It is the responsibility of the agents, representatives, and laws of the Earth Federation to promote development and maintenance of ample public space allowing for genuine communication and dialogue within all the localities of the Federation as well as among the peoples of Earth. One especially important mechanism for this will be the development and protection of a free internet, email, blog, and website system available to all citizens of the Earth Federation. It is the responsibility of the aforementioned educational institutions to take a leadership role in the promotion of institutions and cultures revolving around authentic, open, and transparent dialogue, debate, and communicative interaction locally, nationally, and within our planetary venue.
5. The fifth principle of democracy is the idea that government only functions legitimately with the consent of the governed and active participation of the governed in formulating the laws under which they live. Governmental authority to legislate and enforce laws is predicated on an unforced consent to these laws by the population. This means that consent must not be “manufactured” or engineered through government propaganda, intimidation, pressure to conformity, a corporate controlled media system, or any other method, but must be the product of free exchange of ideas within a democratic framework. As this is sometimes expressed, ultimate sovereignty belongs to the people, and only their free consent can create legitimate political obligation to respect and obey the laws. The people have the right to withdraw allegiance from any government that seriously violates their consent, dignity, equality, or human rights.
It is the responsibility of the agents, representatives, and laws of the Earth Federation to protect the transparency and integrity of the law-making process so that there is no doubt among reasonable citizens of the Earth Federation that they have consented in principle to the laws made in their name. Even minorities whose opinion is overruled every time a majority decision is taken should be able to recognize and respect the integrity of the process through which the decision has been made and hence consent to the laws themselves. It is the responsibility of the aforementioned educational institutions to assist students in developing a dialogical and communicative ability through which they can both participate in the process of giving consent to the laws made in their name as well as critically evaluate and appreciate the integrity and transparency of the democratic processes informing the Earth Federation government. It is the responsibility of the Earth Federation Civil Service Administration Article (8.2.1) to build into civil service training and certification standards of dialogical competency that must be met by all persons receiving civil service certification.
6. The sixth principle of democracy requires a constitutional-legal framework and community spirit that reduces as much as possible the use of force in human affairs. It entirely eliminates war, which is always the antithesis of democracy and internally destroys the democracy of countries as well as the communicative intelligence of citizens. Democracy also works to eliminate force in the form of political violence (such as repression or arrest of those with dissenting ideas). The legitimate use of force by democratic government requires effective legal restraints and systems of accountability for police and government officials. It also requires the principle of use of minimum force necessary in arresting lawbreakers and otherwise keeping order as well as careful avoidance of the use of force against any and all innocent bystanders. It absolutely prohibits the use or threat of force, fear, or intimidation as a form of political control of the population or against law-abiding nonviolent dissenters.
6.1 It is the responsibility of all agents, representatives, and laws of the Earth Federation to reduce as much as possible the use of force within human affairs, to eliminate war entirely, and to create the institutions necessary for the adjudication, reconciliation, or mediation between conflicting individuals, corporate entities, or governmental units within the Earth Federation. It is the responsibility of the aforementioned educational institutions, as addressed in WLA # 26, to promote reflection on the deleterious effects of violence in human affairs and the need for a communicative framework that necessarily requires both the absence of violence and the threat of violence. It is also their responsibility to educate citizens in the principles and techniques of communicative dialogue.
6.2 The responsibility to promote communicative dialogue and mutual understanding is also emphasized in WLA #32, the Conflict Resolution Act, which is directed toward minimizing violence in human affairs. It is the responsibility not only of the Department of Conflict Resolution and all other governmental agencies, but of all the citizens of the Earth Federation to promote the tolerance, mutual respect, and communicative openness that are indispensible for the effective and substantial reduction of the use or threat of force and violence from human affairs. This responsibility necessarily requires universal education and training in the processes of communicative dialogue and mutual understanding.
7. The seventh principle of democracy is representation of the common good of the whole. Within a framework of freedom, citizens soon develop a loyal community of rights and duties in which the common good of the whole becomes a matter of utmost importance. Democratic government that represents them must embody this concern. The notion of the common good of the whole logically includes the idea that the good of future generations must be taken into account. Legitimate government does not represent the interests of a segment of the population. Concern for the environment, for the general and widespread prosperity of citizens, for preservation of resources for future generations, and for protecting the rights and political voice of all citizens equally are understood as representing the common good.
It is the responsibility of all agents, representatives, and laws of the Earth Federation to consider the impact of their ideas, actions, and laws on the common good as this can be formulated with suitable and reasonable variations for the local, national or mundial (world) levels. This responsibility also applies to the aforementioned educational institutions as well as citizens of the Earth Federation. WLA # 26 requires pedagogical frameworks allowing students to reflect on and develop a “good government index” and thereby reflect on the concept of the common good, what this implies, and how it relates to individuals, businesses, and governmental responsibilities. The concept of the common good necessarily includes development of a global framework that promotes, institutionalizes, and makes possible all of the above six principles and sets of responsibilities enumerated within this document.
* * * * * * * * * *
A Resolution by the 12th Session of the Provisional World Parliament Kolkata, India, December 28, 2010
Attested:
Eugenia Almand, JD, Secretary
Provisional World Parliament