ABSTRACT

A government, by providing a common means to resolve disputes between individuals and among groups within a society, increases personal security on average for its population, even if some injustice remains unremedied. Government power can be hijacked by elite groups or individuals who turn the apparent rule of law into a cover for pillage or to satisfy their private grudges in unfair ways. Social anthropology has led some to conclude that all moral values are relative to the society in which they develop and can only with great difficulty be judged in terms of another society or universally. Political theory in the West seemed in rather rude good health during the eras starting with the Renaissance and continuing through the Age of Reason. Global warming, mass extinctions, and other environmental catastrophes are tied to humanity's increasing mastery over the planet through science.