{"id":317963,"date":"2026-07-06T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=317963"},"modified":"2026-07-03T19:20:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:20:48","slug":"from-independence-to-interdependence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/07\/from-independence-to-interdependence\/","title":{"rendered":"From Independence to Interdependence"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Jul 2026 – <\/em>As North Americans and people of other former colonies recognize, there\u2019s a great deal to be said for national independence.<\/p>\n

But, at times, we might also wonder: \u00a0is it sufficient?<\/p>\n

Until recently in human history, imperialism was widespread.\u00a0 In 1939, Britain\u2019s Empire and Commonwealth<\/a> alone had direct or de facto <\/em>political and economic control of 25 percent of the world\u2019s population and 30 percent of its land mass.\u00a0 In fact, only a century ago, nearly half<\/a> of today\u2019s independent nations were European colonies.<\/p>\n

Imperialism, of course, had severe drawbacks.\u00a0 For the colonized, these drawbacks included genocide, enslavement, exploitation, and the looting of resources.\u00a0 But the colonizers, too, despite the vast riches acquired by a small minority among them, suffered losses.\u00a0 They perished in imperialist wars, died of starvation and diseases, and became infected by arrogance, brutality and racism.\u00a0 Above all, imperialism denied people in the colonies the right to self-government and, therefore, the right to determine the future of their own nations.<\/p>\n

But World War II destabilized the imperialist system and, also, discredited it.\u00a0 As a result, a vast wave of decolonization occurred in the aftermath of the war, especially in the 1950s and 1960s.\u00a0 Although there are still holdouts from the worldwide anti-imperialist approach\u2015Vladimir Putin, committed to annexing Ukraine, Benjamin Netanyahu, battling to prevent Palestinian statehood, and Donald Trump, constantly demanding new territory\u2015for the most part national independence has become the acceptable norm.<\/p>\n

The problem, however, is that although national independence is preferable to imperialist domination, it does not get us very far toward solving some of the world\u2019s most pressing problems.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most serious of the problems facing us today is war, with wars currently raging<\/a> throughout large portions of the world.\u00a0 Global military spending continues to soar (reaching $2.9 trillion in 2025<\/a>), with enormous increases already slated<\/a> for the future.\u00a0 The result is\u2015and seems likely to continue to be\u2015an enormous loss of lives and economic resources.<\/p>\n

Nuclear weapons, of course, threaten to turn war into a catastrophe almost beyond human comprehension, annihilating virtually all life on earth.\u00a0 And yet, in a sharp break with the nuclear arms control and disarmament measures of past decades, the nuclear powers have recently abandoned their commitment<\/a> to reducing and, ultimately, abolishing the nuclear menace.\u00a0 Having increased their nuclear spending by 19 percent in 2025<\/a>, they are currently developing a dazzling array of new nuclear weapons.<\/a><\/p>\n

How are nations going to deal with the immense problem of war and modern weaponry without collective action?\u00a0 Certainly, the solution to the problem does not lie in the hands of any one nation.<\/p>\n

If human beings, as well as other species, are not exterminated in the near future by war, they are likely to face gradual extinction by environmental catastrophe<\/a>.\u00a0 Global warming, the loss of biodiversity, air pollution, deforestation, melting ice caps, sea level rise, soil degradation, overfishing, and a host of other ills are already here and leading to an increasingly unsustainable, unlivable future.\u00a0 Meanwhile, intense heat, raging wildfires, and massive floods are destroying agriculture and sending millions of desperate climate refugees fleeing from their homelands.<\/p>\n

Effective protection of the world\u2019s environment surpasses the ability of any one nation, however well-meaning.\u00a0 Surely it is a global matter, requiring global cooperation.<\/p>\n

Diseases, of course, also transcend national lines.\u00a0 The COVID-19 pandemic, for example, caused between 15 million and 18 million deaths<\/a> in nations around the world.\u00a0 But, of course, in recent decades there have been other disease epidemics and pandemics<\/a> that have shown no regard for national boundaries, including HIV\/AIDS, malaria, influenza, hepatitis, SARS, swine flu, dengue fever, Western African Ebola, mpox, MERS, and cholera.<\/p>\n

When it comes to diseases, there has been widespread recognition that a global approach is necessary.\u00a0 As a result, 192 nations belong to the World Health Organization<\/a> (WHO).\u00a0 Three nations, however, stubbornly resist WHO membership.\u00a0 The United States is one of them, thanks to the decision of U.S. President Trump to withdraw from it.<\/p>\n

Numerous other challenges\u2015including widespread poverty, the irresponsible behavior of multinational corporations, mass migration, resource scarcity, and the risks of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence\u2015also suggest the need for global collaboration.<\/p>\n

These kinds of global issues are frequently discussed at the United Nations, leading to statements made by the UN Secretary-General and other UN officials that appeal for remedial action.\u00a0 But, unfortunately, some nations, and especially the great powers, which seem less committed to global betterment than to their own national agendas, have seen to it that the United Nations is denied the authority and the resources to adequately address these challenges.\u00a0 Russia, for example, has repeatedly vetoed UN Security Council resolutions<\/a> calling for an end to its continued military invasion, occupation, and annexation of Ukraine.\u00a0 For its part, the United States has compiled a debt of nearly $4 billion<\/a> to the cash-strapped United Nations by halting its payments for UN dues and UN peacekeeping operations.<\/p>\n

The logical solution to the frustration of collective action is to strengthen the United Nations.\u00a0 Several proposals have been advanced<\/a> along these lines, including enhancing the power of the General Assembly and limiting the veto in the Security Council.\u00a0 In addition, a campaign has recently been launched<\/a> to reduce the obstacles to more effective UN action in global affairs by employing Article 109 of the UN Charter to hold a UN Charter review conference.\u00a0 If this conference were held and the Charter revised, it could transform world organization into what the campaign calls \u201ca stronger, fairer, and more inclusive international system.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the strengthening of the United Nations won\u2019t occur automatically. \u00a0It will require worldwide public pressure, driven by citizens\u2019 organizations committed to peace, environmental sustainability, public health, and other global imperatives.\u00a0 Ultimately, it\u2019s up to these organizations and to their allies among wise public officials to secure the next great shift in human consciousness and behavior\u2015a shift from a parochial national independence to the interdependence of nations.<\/p>\n

_____________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Lawrence S. Wittner (<\/em>https:\/\/www.lawrenceswittner.com\/<\/em><\/a> ) is Professor of History Emeritus at SUNY\/Albany and the author of <\/em>Confronting the Bomb<\/em><\/a> (Stanford University Press).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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