Citizens for Global Solutions, a grassroots membership organization in the United States, envisions a "future in which nations work together to abolish war, protect our rights and freedoms and solve the problems facing humanity that no nation can solve alone" and to "building the political will in the United States" to achieve this vision. The organization’s membership is active across the country, meeting regularly with public officials to support a more cooperative and multilateral U.S. foreign policy or taking action through an online advocacy center.[1] The organization’s education fund develops proposals for creating, reforming and strengthening international laws and institutions and educate Americans about global interdependence. Its political action committee, Global Solutions PAC, which is not affiliated with any political party, supports candidates and public officials who are globally responsible.
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The organization currently works on issues that fall into five general areas: U.S. global engagement, global health and environment, peace and security, international law and justice, and international institutions. CGS staff work with public officials and research issues in these areas to provide members with analyses, talking points and opportunities to take action.
Members lobby public officials through periodic action alerts sent by email, through the organization's online advocacy website[1] and through participation in local chapters or community groups. In areas with sufficient activists, local chapters also conduct community education and political advocacy projects, such as lobby visits, United Nations Day events and discussion groups.
Bimonthly, members participate in national teleconferences and local project organizing through the Partners for Global Solutions advocacy program. Once a year, members are invited to an annual conference either in Washington, D.C., hosted by a local chapter or in a strategically important state.
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The Global Solutions PAC, formerly part of CUNR, endorses candidates for Congress based on their record or expressed intention of supporting effective democratic global institutions. Since 1998, the PAC has contributed to those candidates who share the organization's policy goals and are in competitive races or lead key Congressional committees. Those to receive endorsements or contributions are determined from a report card and/or candidate questionnaires.
Citizens for Global Solutions has its roots in a 1947 convention in Asheville, North Carolina, when World Federalists, USA merged with four similar organizations to form the United World Federalists.[2] Membership was open to any American "except persons Communist or Fascist oriented".[2] It had more than 50,000 members during the late 1940s and early 1950s, including Albert Einstein, Kurt Vonnegut, Sen. Alan Cranston, Mortimer Adler, E.B. White, Oscar Hammerstein, Cord Meyer, and the organization’s longtime President, Norman Cousins. Over the course of its history, the organization recognized a number of leading globally minded citizens for their support of the organization's goals through the presentation of the Norman Cousins Global Governance Award. Recipients have included Strobe Talbott (Deputy Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton), Walter Cronkite, and Ted Turner.
With the horrors of war so recent in people’s minds – and particularly the new, looming threat of nuclear annihilation – in the late 1940s and early 1950s upwards of 50,000 supporters demanded the creation of a better United Nations. But the Cold War association of internationalism with communism and a shift in political nomenclature over the decades together limited the organization's outreach, political initiatives and membership.
The organization changed its name in 1969 to World Federalists, U.S.A. and in the mid-1970s to the World Federalist Association. Changes in the U.S. tax code prompted the creation in 1976 of a sister organization, the Campaign for United Nations Reform, for lobbying purposes. In the 1990s, with the Cold War over, the organization (and WFM globally) began making more progress, most notably on the issue of creating an International Criminal Court.
In the 1990s, the organization gained again in membership, particularly among young professionals with a more global awareness since the end of the Cold War. On the organization's 50th anniversary, several of its founding members presented the Mt. Vernon Declaration at the celebrations in Mount Vernon, Virginia. As a generational gap existed and experience in reaching younger audiences presented problems for the organization, several youth leaders offered guidance and leadership in more effective outreach to their peers, notably through the 1997 Pittsburgh Youth Statement much of which was implemented over the following years. Of particular note was suggestions for more contemporary and inclusive approaches to establishing global law rather than or in addition to previous proposals for a world constitutional convention.[3]
Having worked closely for almost three decades and with significant membership overlap, the sister organization Campaign for UN Reform proposed a stronger strategic partnership with the World Federalist Association in 2003. Continuing difficulty in achieving its political, media and funding goals prompted the organization to review its vision and mission in relation to this proposal. The membership approved the proposed partnership in November 2003, creating two related corporations - Citizens for Global Solutions, Inc. and Citizens for Global Solutions Education Fund.
Citizens for Global Solutions remains a member organization and supporter of the World Federalist Movement.