The state, the power unit inside a country also called a state, has been the center of power in the anarchic state system:<\/p>\n
But the states, except for the biggest ones, China, India, USA, Indonesia, Russia are waning in salience.\u00a0 What happens then to the four powers?\u00a0 Answer: by and large they go upstairs.<\/p>\n
Take Norway as an example: a small country, only 5 million. Member of a regional military alliance, NATO, and de facto member of a regional union, EU through the European Economic Space, EES, foreign, military and important domestic policy decisions traditionally handled by the state are now decided regionally, often by (imposed) consensus.\u00a0 Afghanistan for instance; the prime minister: “When NATO goes in we go in, when NATO goes out we go out”.\u00a0 EU directives are implemented.<\/p>\n
What, then, does the Norwegian parliament decide?\u00a0 Domestic policy, down to the nitty-gritty that could be handled in a pluralist way by provinces-municipalities.\u00a0 And what do they decide?\u00a0 Not much, they carry out decisions, undermining municipal autonomy; making municipal elections almost meaningless.\u00a0 Like state level elections to the EU parliament, people say: “All is decided up there anyhow”.<\/p>\n
Take EU as an example, a huge region, 500 million+, with 7% of the world population producing 25 percent of the world’s wealth.\u00a0 “The European Union is the world’s largest economy \/with the non-Euro countries\/ and, with 16 percent of exports, the first trading power, ahead of China and the US”.\u00a0 But, with record unemployment, strong BRICS competition, very high energy dependency, 90 million above 65.<\/p>\n
And, 50 % of the world social expenditure, “7-25-50<\/i>” as Jos\u00e9 Ignacio Torreblanca points out in an article with that title.[i]<\/a><\/p>\n And, 50% of the world’s military expenditure is by the USA; powerful EU has military decision-making moving upwards, transported by the US Trojan Horse in the EU conglomerate, the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n And, behind the use of military power are economic-cultural-political considerations.\u00a0 A considerable power delegation upwards.<\/p>\n Take democracy.\u00a0 It is part of the theory of the state, rule by the consent of the ruled. Take a ministry in a small country attuned to their opposite number ministries in other countries in the region, addressing the same issues with expertise, much to compare, to\u00a0\u00a0 learn, to coordinate.\u00a0 The voice of the people via parliament becomes weak, almost inaudible, in comparison; besides, people speak opinion while ministries speak law-facts.\u00a0 So, goodbye democracy, goodbye for now.<\/p>\n This “supersidiarity” is clearly the opposite of the subsidiarity principle of handling problems at the lowest level possible. \u00a0We get:<\/p>\n Has God descended on earth, omnipresent through the four powers, omnipotent, omniscient by spying, presumably benevolent as regions? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Is this better or worse than the state system we are leaving behind?<\/p>\n Where would subsidiarity–the lowest level possible–bring us?\u00a0 The alternative to regionalism-globalism is not localism but all our levels, the world as a community of locally self-reliant communities, a community of states, a community of regions and global governance; pushing power downstairs, down to the people and to nature, listening to its voice.\u00a0 With the UN as a confederation of states and regions.<\/p>\n We are facing enormous threats to life outside the state system:<\/p>\n A Basic Paradigm for Massive Killing<\/i><\/p>\n\n