The New Global Human Community

Under the impact of globalization, the international community is in the process of evolving into a new community made up of new members, inspired by new principles, and based on new ideas. The first part of this Article aims to justify the existence of this emerging community using four arguments that can be summarized by the Latin terms dignitas, usus, necessitas, and bonum commune. The second part argues that the new global human community has four features: that it comprises persons, not nation-states; that it is universal in nature; that membership in it is compulsory; and that it is incomplete but complementary to other forms of community. These features of the new global human community will determine both the structure of its legal system and its legal authority.