I dunno, TAZ. Maybe it's because I read the articles in SOF Mag instead of the ads; and follow
http:///www.stratfor.com daily. But from what I'm seeing/reading/hearing, there is more of a breakdown than a coalescence.
I think few would argue that there are some who would indeed favor some single government over the whole world. The problem is twofold: First, plain old human nature. Second, power struggles among "those who would be king". The mix of the two is fragmenting countries all over the world, whether Indonesia, Mexico or the U.S.
You mention the economic union of Europe. It is very fragile, and is "sorta" succeeding now, while times are pretty good and their stock markets and currencies are in reasonably good shape. I submit that if our own stock market bubble blows out, all bets are off, world-wide.
Saying that modern communications technology enables stronger governmental controls ignores the reality that this technology is doing much to render governments superfluous in many ways. It is, actually, decreasing their power. Factor in the estimate that the Internet will more than triple in the next few years, and that the majority of this growth will be outside the U.S. My recommendation would be to find some instant-translation software!
Note that the UN is more ineffectual now than it was 50 years ago. I doubt it will improve any...
I just see too many factions, worldwide, of near-equal power, none of whom would give up that power. I think that in the U.S., the multi-culturalism that is of proper concern to many of us will disappear in a heartbeat if some real-world outside threat were to develop--and our own more-than-equal power would then come to the fore. Right now, we're spoiled and lazy--because we can afford to be. But we can change, quickly, as some folks found out in 1941 and after.
FWIW, Art