World Politics Review - Under the Influence: The UN is the United States' to Lose (April 20, 2009)

This column from Andrew Blast, in World Politics Review, notes the annual convention keynote address by ISA President Thomas G. Weiss on the demise of the idea of world government:

At the 50th convention of the International Studies Association earlier this year, Thomas G. Weiss offered a remarkable keynote address entitled, "What Happened to the Idea of World Government?" Likely the foremost historian of the United Nations (and full disclosure, a former professor of mine), Weiss explained how the idea of world government was once a vogue concept, on the minds of the top thinkers of the day. Not anymore. As he said, "world government is a term no longer used in polite company." Instead, what prevails is a confounding attempt at international order, widely known as global governance. According to Weiss, global governance is "the patchwork of formal and informal arrangements among states, international agencies, and public-private partnerships." In other words, what we have today is an international, anarchic mess.

Click here to read the full column.