'The Klein Principle' by Julian Fletcher

The World State

The Failures

The World State was set up after a long process of unification. Ever since the end of the twentieth century, and in fact from quite some time before, there were calls for a grand union of nations. The original if feeble attempt was the U.N. (United Nations), alleged to cover most of the civilised world, it was mainly a token gesture. Any problem in some 'insignificant country' (i.e. not a member of the U.N.) then a peace-keeping army was sent. This farcical force seldom made things better, and generally prolonged the suffering, rather than shortening it. Apart from it's total incompetence, it was also controlled by the Americans. This is not meant in a derogatory sense, merely as a statement of fact. The Americans believed they were most powerful so should have more say. This may have been true but it did lead to a lack of democracy.

Growing alongside the U.N. was N.A.T.O. (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) a similar institution, which generally only attempted the theory, and even that it did badly. Likewise it was controlled by the Americans.

Also was the E.E.C. (European Economic Community), E.U. (European Union), E.C. (European Community) all different names for what was basically the same thing, a group of European countries that tried to unite in the hope of economic growth. It might have worked if it wasn't for the pathetic beauracrats that ran the Union in to the ground, it's petty squabbling over banana curves, and cucumber lengths may be the stuff of jokes at the time, but they were true.

Of course there were the small things like G7 - a group of seven countries whose ministers liked the idea of travelling to any of the other six; OPEC - a confederacy of Middle Eastern oil producing countries who enjoyed the control of this black gold; and several more which are not even worth a mention.

All of these institutions tried to unify many countries, either in the hope for peace or for economic growth. All failed. Partly due to the public's attitude, but mainly because they were run by a load of politicians, few of whom cared for the needs of the real people.

Consequently, over many years, ending in 2027, all of the above groups disbanded many citing lack of cooperation between different countries, and Joe Public's disapproval of them. But when this admission came things started to happen.

The Advances

It was around the Summer of 2034, Frederick Eden, an unknown sociologist, who spent the preceding two years as a virtual hermit in some small North American town. During these years he wrote a book, an unremarkable book in itself, nothing new was said, no revelations were made, not a single theory voiced, merely it was a description of the days society. The title expressed it's simplicity, 'Today'. It was not a major success, it raised a few eyebrows in the sociological community, mainly due to disapproval because nothing new was said. However the style of it, a society mocking one, a cynical sarcastic outlook of the world caused one or two people to talk about it, spreading through word of mouth it quickly became the bible for all would be cynics, revolutionaries etc.

Like always it was some time before the politicians heard of of it, but nothing much happened. But then like a gust of wind on a house of cards, the author wrote the obvious sequel, 'Tomorrow'. The uproar caused, a mere sociologist telling people how to organise society, started the wheels of change working. Europe tried for unification again, the Union of European States, including the rapidly advanced Russia. It was a success. People were fed up of disharmony, disorganisation, general Distopia, naïvely believing in a possible Utopia. They didn't quite get it, but were on their way.

The Americas, seeing Europe's success, followed suit, South America, U.S.A., Canada, all joining as one super power. At the same time, the now 'civilised' (I use 'civilised' in the pompous and self-righteous European and American form) Africa was also unifying, as was the Arabic states and India, Pakistan etc. Which left mainly Japan, China, Australia, and many small islands. Japan ironically joined the Americas, Australia curiously opted for Europe, and the islands joined various ones depending on their proximity and background.

Which only leaves China. China the thorn in the side of unity. It's politics didn't agree with the rest of the world, it was alone in it's ideology. It remained that way.

This left four unions, Union of European States, American States, African Union and the Middle Asian Alliance, with China in the cold. This process finished by 2105.

The Success

The final step was the ultimate unification. All four into one World State. This took many years, thousands of hours of debate, and several large forests of paper (despite constant environmental fears, paper was still preferred over electronic information), a union was agreed. It's first form included all the four, except the M.A.A., it declined over some petty squabble, that was in 2123. That was the First Form.

The Second Form was in 2141, the M.A.A. finally conceded whatever small point of order was in question, and joined.

For the Third Form, it would be appropriate to note that while all this union was occurring a small proportion, only a fraction of a percent, of the population were not happy. The idea of a central government with absolute, ultimate control was too dangerous for them to comprehend, so they left. But peacefully. They formed many communes on small Pacific islands, each with slightly different creeds and ideals. They remained peaceful until 2167. Then their frustration came to a head, they ironically unified against the Union, saying that indivisibility was essential. Small conflicts started. They were quashed in an even handed but firm way. In no way did the State want to crush their voice, to do so would cause worldwide anger. They let them have their say, but refused to destroy them. This unwillingness of the State for conflict led to several of the communes rejoining the State. The rest became Pacified. This is the Third Form, encompassing all but a handful of islands and China.

To this day China remains isolated.