Who Speaks for Humanity? The Need for a Single Political Voice

Abstract

Future astrobiological activities and discoveries, along with other human activities in the transnational domain of outer space, will require the development of political institutions able legitimately to speak for humanity as a whole. I identify a range of possibilities, including the formation of a world space agency and a strengthening of the UN system; but I argue that ultimately the logic points in the direction of bringing space exploration within the remit of a federal world government, the creation of which would also be desirable for other reasons. Although, at present, humanity lacks a sufficiently strong sense of global community for the formation of strong global political institutions, I argue that the cosmic and evolutionary perspectives provided by astrobiology and related disciplines can help lay the psychological foundations on which such institutions may be built.

Brightening the skies

“…But whereas Deudney implies that this may be sufficient if habitat space expansionism is curtailed, the logic points to stronger international measures being required if habitat space expansion is to proceed. Medium-term possibilities (say over the next several decades) might include the creation of a world space agency under UN auspices (e.g., Cleaver 1948;Clark and Sohn 1960;Brown and Fabian 1975), and/or the creation of a high-level UN organ at the level of the Security Council (perhaps by re-purposing the now redundant Trusteeship Council; e.g., Carlsson et al 1995;Crawford 2021b) to coordinate global space activities.…”

“…Just as a planetary government for Earth will not emerge overnight but will be the result of a long evolutionary process, the same will be true of governance in space. Elsewhere (e.g., Crawford 1995;2021b), I have identified a hierarchy of institutional proposals for the future governance of space activities. The nearest term of these proposals would involve strengthening UN oversight of space activities by building on the existing provisions of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty 3 and enhancing the roles of UN Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) 4 and the UN General Assembly's Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) 5 .…”