The term is used primarily in
political and
humanitarian contexts to describe an international aggregate of
nation states of widely varying types. In most connotations, the term is used to convey meanings attached to consensus or inclusion of all people in all lands and their governments.
Politics
'World community' often is a semi-personal rhetorical connotation that represents Humanity in a singular context as in "…for the sake of the World Community" or "…with the approval of the World Community".
It sometimes is used to reference the
United Nations or its affiliated agencies as bodies of governance. Other times it is a generic term with no explicit ties to states or governments but retaining a political connotation.
Humanitarianism
In terms of
human needs,
humanitarian aid,
human rights, and other discourse in the
humanities, the world community is akin to the conceptual
Global village aimed at the inclusion of non-aligned countries, aboriginal peoples, the
Third World into the ''connected'' world via the communications infrastructure or at least representative ties to it.
Economics
In terms of the
Global economy, the ''world community'' is seen by some economists as an inter-dependent system of goods and services with semi-permeable boundaries and flexible sets of import/export rules. Proponents of
Globalization may tend to establish or impose more rigidity to this framework. Controversy has arisen as to whether this paradigm will strengthen or weaken the world as a community. See
World Trade Organization
Ecology
When considering
Sustainable development and
Ecology, the inter-dependence angle generally expands quickly to a
Global context. In this paradigm, the planet as a whole represents a single
Biome and the World's population represents the
Ecological succession in a singular
eco-system. This also can be recognized as the 'World Community'.
Religion
Many religions have taken on the challenge of establishing a 'World Community' through the propagation of doctrine, faith and practice.
In the
Bahá'í Faith, `Abdu'l-Bahá, successor and son of Bahá'u'lláh produced a series of documents called "Tablets of the Divine Plan". In these was an outline for the expansion and consolidation of Bahá'í communities in Asia, Asia minor, Europe and the Americas into the Bahá'í 'world community'.
In Buddhism "the conventional Sangha of monks has been entrusted by the Buddha with the task of leading all people in creating the ideal 'world community' of noble disciples or truly civilized people."
A Benedictine monk, Friar John Main, inspired the 'World Community' for
Christian meditation through the practice of meditation centered around the
Maranatha mantra, meaning "Come Lord."
The Lutheran Church in America had issued a social statement - ''World Community: Ethical Imperatives in an Age of Interdependence'' Adopted by the Fifth Biennial Convention, Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 25-July 2, 1970. Since then The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has formed and retained the statement as a 'historical document'.
World Peace
The term 'world community' is often used in the context of establishing and maintaining
world peace through a
peace process or through a resolvable end to
war and
world war. Many
social movements and
political theories that deal with these issues revolve around the
institutionalization of propagating the
idea of world
community.
See also
★
Community
★
International Community
★
Global village
★
Moral syncretism
External links
★ http://bahai-library.com/writings/abdulbaha/tdp/
★ http://swamij.com/maranatha.htm
★ http://www.wccm.org/
★ http://www.saigon.com/~anson/ebud/ebdha062.htm
★ http://www.elca.org/jle/lca/lca.world_community.html
★ http://www.experiencefestival.com/falun_gong