ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the possible directions in which the world may be heading in the near future, as well as the ways in which its course may be directed by intelligent human action. The articulation of any social value is the attempt to legitimize the quest for power. Conversely, the will to power must be accompanied by the articulation of a social value, or set of values, if it is to assume a political quality. In US academic circles, a great debate began at about the time of World War II among students of international politics between so-called realists and those they labeled as Utopians or idealists. Governments are the channels through which flow social power and values, there to be stirred into a legitimate mix before flowing back as the dominant current over society. The greater the measure of congruence between political power and authority, the more we are inclined to regard the resulting government as legitimate.
