Fluent Radical

Taking a break from the Tory party blues to discuss the Anglosphere

Over at Anglosphere
Union Now! they have a fully worked out
constitution
for a United Commonwealth. This would be a federal union
for the commonwealth, which the British monarch would actually have
more power over than she does now over the UK, and all Anglosphere Nations
are joined in a mutual harmony. It’s a fun fantasy.

Slightly unrealistic aspects include:

• Transfer of nuclear weapons to the U.C.
• Power to raise taxes and armed forces.
• Monarchical vetos over legislation, which can only be overridden
  by referenda.

I’m an anglosphere nut, but even I wouldn’t go along with this.

The
Anglosphere Challenge includes an interesting discussion of the
Hanseatic League, a loose federation of medieval city-states in
Germany and the Baltics. This federation eventually failed when it
came into contact with the first prototypes of the nation state.

An updated Hanse, with modern nation states as members, is
a far more viable model for a united Anglosphere than an attempt to
replicate the failed European Union model or even the successful
United States. The EU failed because of a lack of a common demos. So
would a federal Anglosphere Union.

So I’m going to try to put together a competing Anglosphere
Constitution - as another fun fantasy. It will be based around the
ideas of:

• Variable geometry - the institutions of the Union will be
  coalitions of the willing, not just on defence but also trade and any
  other matters.
• No obligations - the Union will impose no obligations on it’s
  members, beyond administrative contributions.
• No joint responsibility - no member of the Union will have to
  accept responsibility over the actions of another.
• It should be a network rather than a heirarchy. Or rather, it
  should be a set of multiple networks. Its place of business will be a
  forum rather than a legislature.