ABSTRACT
Distances have been contracted by a miraculous increase in speed of displacement. It is a common saying that thought is quicker than action: this holds true in cases of imagination, not so in the case of more reflective use of the intellect. The economic benefits derived therefrom are too well known to need any stressing. The chapter draws attention to some of the political consequences. Progress in transport has flung down the walls of distance which insulated the many human communities; but men have not rushed over these toppled walls to greet each other as long-lost brothers now enabled to merge in one great community. The combination of strong diversity between societies and of effective physical proximity poses a political problem of major dimensions. It is just not good enough to think of it in terms borrowed from the experience of diplomacy between the states belonging to the same society.
