How to run the world

[Celerity]

We need new forms of global diplomacy to transcend the current pathetic bargaining of national and commercial interests

https://aeon.co/essays/we-need-a-planetary-system-of-diplomacy-for-the-21st-century


COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2 December 2023. Photo by Amr Alfiky/Reuters



On 31 July 2024, an intriguing ceremony took place on Pheasant Island, a tiny sliver of land in the river Bidasoa, marking the border between France and Spain in the Basque Pyrenees. Under a lush canopy of trees, a handful of people disembarked from rubber dinghies and walked towards a monument, the only man-made structure on the island. Most of them were wearing the pristine white uniforms of the French and Spanish navies. The walk was a short one, as the island is only 200 metres long and 40 metres wide.

Near the monument, there were speeches. Floral wreaths were laid down, trumpets, cornets and bugles resounded, and a number of gun salutes were fired. On the flagpole, the Spanish bandera was lowered and the French tricolore hoisted. The island’s anthem – yes, it has one, despite being uninhabited – was played. The atmosphere was a unique blend of solemn military protocol and gleeful exuberance, just like it was the previous year and the years before. Every year on 31 July, France reassumes sovereignty over Pheasant Island, six months after it has been transferred to Spain.



The island, with an area smaller than a soccer field, changes nationality twice a year. Pheasant Island is the only example in the world of a temporal condominium, a political territory shared by multiple powers with alternating sovereignty. Governance is, in turns, entrusted to the French and the Spanish naval commanders stationed at Bayonne and San Sebastián, who carry the honorific title of ‘viceroy’ – a curious title, especially in France, where royalty has ended in exile or decapitation.

In 2022, for the first time, a vicereine was appointed, Pauline Potier, a naval commander and deputy director in the French civil administration. Upon assuming her functions, she said that the strange fate of the island was more than just amusing folklore: ‘It is a symbol of the success of diplomacy over war.’


Plan of Pheasant Island (Île des Faisans) c1660, at the time of the Treaty of the Pyrenees between France and Spain. Courtesy Gallica/Bnf

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