The Challenges of the 21st Century

Abstract

We have organizations for the preservation of almost everything in life that we want but no organization for the preservation of mankind. People seem to have decided that our collective will is too weak or fl awed to rise to this occasion. They see the violence that has saturated human history and conclude that to practice violence is innate to our species. They fi nd the perennial hope that peace can be brought to the earth once and for all a delusion of the well-meaning who have refused to face the “ harsh realities ” of international life – the realities of self-interest, fear, hatred, and aggression. They have concluded that these realities are eternal ones, and this conclusion defeats at the outset any hope of taking the actions necessary for survival.