10.2 – Rapid Scaling is Possible

Of course, achieving more robust global governance will require more than just articles like this one. 

You are invited to join us on this world-changing mission, beginning with two critical next steps. 

We can and must: (1) generate a new dialogue across society about the needs and opportunities in global governance reform, and (2) build a grassroots constituency committed to this goal and big enough to drive it forward.

These tasks are not trivial, but both can happen quickly when the conditions are right, as recent history has shown. For example, a strategic investment enabled a new movement in the US that brought marriage equality from a fringe issue to law-of-the-land in just 15 years (roughly 2000 to 2015). And more broadly, the pace of social change is accelerating.

Adoption of new technology can change social paradigms seemingly overnight. Witness the arrival of Facebook in 2004, or the iPhone in 2007. Of course, new technologies alone don’t guarantee social progress.

But the origins of major organizations such as MoveOn and Avaaz demonstrate that large grassroots organizations with a social change agenda can reach influential scale quickly. MoveOn was born in 1998 with the first breakout online petition, quickly reaching 500,000 supporters, a number which grew to millions as the organization surged to prominence leading the opposition to the second US war on Iraq, beginning in 2003. Avaaz originated in 2001 with a similar viral petition following 9-11 with a call for restraint rather than violent reprisal, which attracted hundreds of thousands of supporters worldwide. Avaaz has grown dramatically in the years since then by addressing critical international issues at key moments; its membership now stands at 70 million. 

Successes like these are possible when a new initiative steps into a vacuum, wherein a widely and strongly felt need is otherwise unmet, and when emerging technology can be leveraged. 

These conditions are true in the global governance space today. As we have laid out, the need is clear. The urgency is obvious.

Polls show popular support for global governance reform:

• Majorities in 10 major countries support the creation of “a new global supranational organization… to make binding global decisions on how to manage global risks.” (2020)
• Majorities in 6 major countries support “global democracy, including a world parliament and government.” (2020)
• Majorities in 12 out of 15 countries surveyed support “the creation of a new global parliament that represents every country in the world, where every country would be represented based on how many citizens it has, rather than its own national government representation to the UN.” (2023)
• People in 6 major countries strongly prefer adding a UN assembly directly elected by the people over the status quo in which only countries are represented. They also support the UN making binding decisions on environmental and economic issues as well as security issues. (2022)
• Substantial majorities in all twelve G7 and BRICS countries favor the creation of an International Anti-Corruption Court. (2023)

Can the world come together again in shared purpose? Both history and today’s zeitgeist say it can. People are ready and we have the means today to bring people together as never before. 

A new generation of philanthropists and civic innovators is laying the groundwork for humanity to reimagine global governance. Join us.