Is a one world government possible or stable?

Conspiracy theorists often embrace the mega conspiracy theory that a small group of people run the world, or that an elite is plotting to rule the world. And they tend to identify multiple groups of plotters some overlapping and some disjoint and antagonistic. What these groups have in common is an alleged, normally right wing desire to eliminate or oppress groups that they consider “Inferior” which usually means not following the same religion or profession or having a different skin colour.

In "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" John Perkins describes how inflated economic forecasts were used to persuade countries to borrow more than they could afford and that the goal of this was to increase US power. He states that some people wanted to create a global US empire as part of America's "Manifest Destiny", which is plausible and passes the "who benefits" test for conspiracy theories. Perhaps the most compelling reason for considering Perkins' idea of a drive to global empire true is that the conspiracy seems to have been largely ignored or forgotten, like other proven conspiracies such as Watergate or Iran Contra.

The list of people ruling or wanting to rule the world includes: The Illuminati, Freemasons, The Bilderberg group, Big Business, “communism” - which it opponents usually confuse with compassion, Satanists (anyone following a different religion) and the international finance industry. There are other groups that do want to rule the world, including Militant Islam, the Catholic Church and various right wing Christian groups in the USA and some have wider ambitions, like the Mullah who declared the Arab world had a duty to enter the space race in order to convert extra terrestrial aliens to Islam.

"Omar Bakri is boldly going where no imam has gone before — ordering followers to convert ALIENS to Islam.

Bakri, acting like a character from sci-fi film Mars Attacks, said Muslims must not only spread the word worldwide but also across the galaxy.

He issued the decree during a bizarre rant which has been posted on an extremist website.

Bakri, 50, declared: “We are obliged as Muslims to make the whole galaxy subservient to almighty Allah. Allah has created all living beings in order to obey him and worship him.”"

I came a cross a quote allegedly by David Rockefeller at a meeting of the Trilateral Commission

“We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now much more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries. ”

Unfortunately I have not yet found any evidence he really said this, though I have not looked too hard. And Wikipaedia cites him in an Interview with Benjamin Fulford as saying

“I don't recall that I have said—and I don't think that I really feel—that we need a world government. We need governments of the world that work together and collaborate. But, I can't imagine that there would be any likelihood—or even that it would be desirable—to have a single government elected by the people of the world. ”

But the last sentence in the first quote shows a common attitude among certain groups

“The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries. ”

And I recall various eminent scientists some decades ago who claimed the world would be a better place if it were run by Scientists, and when the prospect of Artificial Intelligence was in fashion some computer scientists believed the world would be better if run by intelligent machines rather than fallible humans

In other words any group of smart people with a similar world view think they can run the world better. If any since person or group WERE granted such power they would doubtless screw the world up as badly as anyone else. Generally once they lose the power they shut up. Scientists and the Computer Intelligentsia for example no longer claim they could do better now they are reduced largely to commodity workers.

Of course no sane person with half a brain cell would want to rule the world, either openly or in secret, though obtaining enough power to live in comfort and be left alone is a more sensible and attainable goal. The mega conspiracy to rule the world is not proven, and I would say very unlikely. Nevertheless it is not impossible so working from the other direction and looking at the problems any such group would face seems a good approach.

The Romans wanted to rule the world, Alexander the Great wanted to rule the world, Genghis Khan wanted to rule the world. The Romans ran out of steam when they reached Scotland in a northerly direction, and Genghis Khan was stopped when he reached Europe in one direction and Japan in another. Alexander the Great died young. Basically when an empire got too big sheer distance and the slowness of communication stopped it getting bigger. Then human nature took over. Once you stop growing your empire you do not have anywhere to send the ambitious people who want your job. This makes your life difficult and often short.

Nowadays distance is not a problem, nor is communication. Yet we do not have a single world empire. The British Empire, one of the largest ever disappeared within living memory and became the Commonwealth. It became impossible to maintain it in the face of demands for independence.

Looking round the world today it would seem impossible to rule a worldwide empire based on military power, the traditional method, thought the Chung Kuo Science fiction series gives a scenario whereby this could happen.

There is still the possibility of a hidden hand ruling the world. Clearly there are groups of people with immense power: banks for example and some multinationals and if these collaborated then some form of hidden government might be possible. There are a number of reasons why I think such a government would be ineffective. It would have to be a very small group, or agreement would be impossible, and the example of the Soviet Union shows that a centralised command structure just tends to overwhelm the people at the centre. If any such hidden empire were to work it would have to delegate power downwards, or the ruling committee in (say) Zurich or Beijing would be forced to decide where the drains should be dug in the villages of Wyre Piddle and Lower Piddle. Such a delegated rule would be impossible to keep secret. And of course it would have to deal with other groups working in secret and with ambitious empire builders not part of the secret government

It seems unlikely there is any committee of 300 ruling the world or trying to do so. If they did they would have to contend with other groups, religious and non-religious who have the same aim, and would be riven with internal dissension. This scenario cannot be ruled out but has to be considered extremely unlikely. Even if achieved they would have to devolve power downwards and this would mean that most people would not see any difference from the present situation