…as many have pointed out, whatever the degree to which they divided humankind, the world’s major religions—Western Christianity, Orthodoxy, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism—also share key values in common.  If humans are ever to develop a universal civilization, it will emerge gradually through the exploration and expansion of these commonalities.[3]

Recognizing already humanity’s acute need for spiritual and religious reconciliation125 years ago, Bahá’u’lláh touched in his Writings upon the conditions essential to the creation of a universal civilisation and the establishment of a system of world governance.  He emphasized the necessity of creating a universal global consciousness, a new spiritual awareness, and a new sense of responsibility.  In one of His Tablets, Bahá’u’lláh addresses to the peoples of the world the following admonition:

O well-beloved ones!  The tabernacle of unity hath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers.  Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch.  We cherish the hope that the light of justice may shine upon the world and sanctify it from tyranny.[4]

For the Bahá’í international community, globalisation is a vision of world unity in so deep and broad a sense as to embrace every aspect of human life.  Such a vision of planetary unity and integration, however, bears no relation to the often bland, faceless, and a-moral global marketplace that we see operating today.  Instead, it recognizes and celebrates the rich diversity of creeds and cultures while at the same time affirming the fundamental oneness of the human race.  The Bahá’í approach to globalisation can be summed up as a commitment to the concept of ‘Unity in Diversity’ and what this practically entails in the life of the individual and society alike.

A global society should not evoke the specter of a world-wide uniformity imposed by a centralised, totalitarian Power.  For a diverse world affords the optimal conditions for all to realize their highest potential through independent intellectual, spiritual, or aesthetic endeavor.  With the oneness of humanity accorded pride of place in human consciousness, its very diversity becomes rather a safeguard against tyranny than a cause of bitter conflict and division.

The multi-cultural approach is important because it offers a sound alternative to the paradigm of globalisation which seems predominant today.  Since the end of the Cold War over a decade ago, the proponents of globalisation have enthusiastically acclaimed the transformative potential of markets and market mechanisms as a kind of universal panacea for all the world’s ills.  Undoubtedly, markets do perform certain functions very efficiently: over time, they have emerged as useful instruments for the allocation of goods and services, and, to a certain degree, have succeeded also in connecting and integrating the peoples of the world.  Thus a recent Bahá’í study concluded: ‘…the earth has already taken on something of the character of “one country” and the inhabitants of various lands the status of its consumer “citizens”’.[5]  Yet, are not other economic models also possible—models that should serve to release and develop human potential, whilst drawing upon those innate human impulses towards fairness and compassion? 

Surely we would be misguided if we were to believe that the human race has already attained the acme of its economic development, precluding it from evolving fiscal and monetary systems founded upon principles of justice, cooperation, and altruism.  Furthermore, when examining the ethics of globalisation, it is important for us to emphasize that the market offers few positive answers to such fundamental questions as: ‘how do we achieve global governance?’ or ‘how do we sustain a dialogue between cultures?’  In short, it is sufficiently evident that we cannot hold the future of our emerging global society hostage to a total reliance on market forces.

For Bahá’ís, the principle of unity is the bedrock of all religious faith; but in the social sphere, the establishment of a universal standard of justice is of preeminent concern, for justice is the essential foundation of unity, and without unity there can be no peace.  The construction of a peaceful global society is thus a progressive task: first, justice is universally established; second, the unity of the planet is realized; and finally, world peace reigns supreme. The global system for which humanity should strive must accordingly renounce all forms of exploitation of one group by another; its international trade must be conducted in a manner both free and fair; and it must accord to all—workers as well as managers and owners—a share in the prosperity created.  The new global order should narrow the gap between rich and poor, and grant equal opportunities to all members of the human family; above all, it should insure equality between men and women.

II

All too often, dialogues on globalisation are thwarted by appeals to ‘cultural relativism’. In theory, cultural relativism is the notion that certain social, economic, cultural, and political practices are intrinsic to particular groups, and that the peremptory imposition of alien and artificial standards is an unwarrantable infringement. Yet such protests are often but attempts to shirk the application of a universal code of human rights.  In fact, cultural relativism, meaning the view that would deny such universal norms, is a political stratagem rooted in the false premise that the member societies of today’s world have grown up in hermetic isolation from each other; whereas the most cursory examination of human history reveals beyond the faintest shadow of a doubt that every society on earth is related to its sisters by a thousand ties. And this is a reality which the investigations of archaeologists and others are further corroborating with each passing day. Not for much longer can the need for a global standard of conduct and governance be dismissed on such tenuous and paltry grounds.  Whatsoever circumstance restricts the ability of individuals to develop their inherent capacities, and to prosper as human beings, must be changed. 

Perhaps the essential and underlying unity that binds together all the peoples and races of the world is nowhere more evident than in the perennial wisdom – what Gottfried Leibniz termed the “perennial philosophy” – that ‘universal and unanimous tradition’ common to all cultures and expressing, albeit in a myriad different ways, a common vision of the plight of man. Undoubtedly by rediscovering such fundamental perceptions it would be possible to derive those essential commonalities which unite all peoples, and to design in consequence a single global system of governance based upon universal values.  From these could then be fashioned a comprehensive global ethic and a shared global ‘human rights and responsibilities constitution;’ and once these were properly established, humanity would be equipped to develop the moral maturity and the wisdom needed to create a genuinely global society or New World Order.  There is no alternative for any governing authority that would truly uphold justice and unity, the prerequisites of peace, to being guided in its decision-making process by ethical and spiritual principles.[6]

Bahá’ís view globalisation in general as dictated by the evolution of human civilization, regarding it as the inevitable outcome of the gradual maturation of humanity as a whole.  Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, described globalisation, or World Order, as ‘the goal towards which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of life, is moving’.[7]  He listed the following as essential preconditions of the establishment of a viable global system: 

·        A democratically elected world parliament with the authority to promulgate binding legislation;

·        A global executive body charged with implementing laws enacted by the world parliament;

·        An international judiciary to adjudicate legal disputes;

·        A worldwide communications system available in all corners of the earth and accessible by all citizens;

·        An international auxiliary language;

·        A uniform system of weights, measures, and currency.

·        An ethical world press and media;

·        Economic justice for all people;

·        A world free from prejudice.[8]  

It must be emphasized that the scheme outlined by Shoghi Effendi was not drafted in response to the two great World Wars and other catastrophic events of the 1900’s; in fact, the essential components of his vision had already been set forth in Bahá’í Scriptures dating from well before the beginning of the twentieth century.  In their pursuit of a world organized upon the principle of Unity in Diversity, Bahá’ís have been intimately concerned and occupied with the challenges of globalisation since the very moment of their Faith’s inception in the mid-1800’s.         

During the ensuing century and a half, the progressive expansion and development of the Bahá’í community on the world stage has resulted in the creation of what today may truly be characterized as a global society.  Thus when, in 1985, the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing body of the Bahá’í Faith, issued its wide-ranging proclamation entitled ‘The Promise of World Peace,’ it especially drew attention to this phenomenon as follows: 

The experience of the Bahá’í community may be seen as an example of this enlarging unity.  It is drawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide range of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of the peoples of many lands.  It is a single social organism, representative of the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a system of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing equally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history.[9]

III

            To turn now to the question of collective security and the safeguarding of international law and order: this critical issue was first addressed by Bahá’u’lláh in the years 1867 and 1868. In a series of letters He directed to the kings and rulers of the world at that time, He emphasised the importance of developing a system of collective global security embracing all states.  In particular, He envisaged a dual sanction involving in the first instance formal mechanisms of consultation that would encourage dialogue between governments and peoples, and so help to diffuse tensions, discourage aggression, and resolve conflict; and only in the second instance, and after all peaceable expedients had been exhausted, effective mechanisms of enforcement sufficient to rein in or punish states or groups who resorted to warlike policies.  These twin dimensions of collective security—Consultation and Constraint—were described by Bahá’u’lláh as follows:

The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized.  The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world’s Great Peace amongst men.  Such a peace demandeth that the Great Powers should resolve, for the sake of the tranquility of the peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled amongst themselves.[10]  

Notwithstanding the Bahá’í conviction that the causes of conflict amongst peoples are destined to be overcome, this blueprint for collective security realistically recognizes that the potential for strife is an inherent reality of the human condition.  For this reason, the Bahá’í community supports the creation of an international police force to monitor and keep the peace.  For globalisation in its highest meaning to have true effect, the world community must be prepared—psychologically, politically, and militarily—to intervene in order to protect the inalienable right to safety and security alike of countries, of communities, and of individuals. 

Genuine unity, then, of the kind calculated to support a just and equitable system of collective security is not attainable solely through the pursuit of economic or political integration, important though these be as elements of a larger process.  In order that unity may be achieved in the deepest and fullest sense, a twofold moral transformation is required as well: one within the hearts of individuals, and the other within society as a whole.  In his recently published book You Can Change the World, Ervin Laszlo, the President of the Club of Budapest, calls particular attention to this point when he observes: ‘Attaining peace in people’s hearts is a precondition of attaining peace in the world.  And inner peace depends very much on creating more equitable conditions in the global village into which we have precipitated ourselves’.[11]