ABSTRACT

To oversimplify, but not too much, one of the participants in the conflict involves concentrated power centres, state and private, closely interlinked. The other is the general or working population, worldwide. In old-fashioned terms, this situation would have been called 'class war'. That is left to the wizards of Davos in New York, the self-appointed guardians of the 'New World Order'. Wars over water, energy and other resources are not unlikely in the future, with consequences that could be devastating. Under contemporary versions of traditional mechanisms, half the people in the world are effectively in receivership, their economic policies managed by experts in Washington. Issues on which the public differs from elites are pretty much off the agenda, notably questions of economic policy. The general public splits its vote in other ways, leading to a statistical tie.