Serious question, because in recent years the power vacuum created by the lack of a formal global government in a world that's nevertheless "globalized" has been filled by a group of six thousand or so (one in a million) who've created a shadow governance structure (writes David Rothkopf in the book Superclass). Only a fraction are the heads-of-state we customarily think of as "influential foreign leaders". The rest are, not surprisingly, business and finance leaders and the hyper-wealthy, leaders of NGOs, influential entertainers (seriously--Bono is part of this world), and top military commanders. They get together regularly at meetings like the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, and decide amongst themselves how things will be for the other six billion of us.

I'm not saying that this is a cabal or a conspiracy. As I said in my lead-in, this is simply the situation you get naturally when there is a power vacuum, and the people with the defacto power are free to make decisions based on their alignment of interests without a government to counterbalance them and represent the people. It's so unlike a conspiracy that relations among the elite are often cutthroat and predatory, and that's part of the problem, since the rampaging elephants can crush a lot of us ants when they do battle.

I've returned the book to the library, so I can't look up the names of some of the elite that Rothkopf mentions. But Merkel and Putin are on the list as current heads-of-state; Bill Clinton remains influential because of his Clinton Global Initiative, but GHW Bush isn't because he's retired from the field, and GW never will be; the head of the IMF is probably still on the list but the IMF's power and influence is waning. Forget the name, but the man who runs China's $2 trillion in currency assets is on the list. Bono is on the list because the others listen to him. The head of the Carlyle Group is on the list, as is the CEO of LockMart and other heads of defense-related industries. Osama bin Laden counts as influential from the shadows--like the more public members of this elite, his decisions affect millions whether they like it or not.

It's time for a genuine world government. One is evolving anyway, whether nationalists like it or not. If we don't take the initiative ourselves and set up a formal government that will protect everyone's interests--something modelled on the American Plan--then by default we get this informal "governance structure" that suits the needs (and favors the interests) of a relatively small elite. National sovereignty is no longer an option, not in this globalized world. National governments are no longer the pinnacle of power in this world.