ABSTRACT
Security-community implies a certain solidarity among States sufficient to assure that disputes will be resolved peacefully, though formal institutional integration may be unnecessary. In theory it might be argued that a seeurity-community at the regional level could be amalgamated as well as pluralistic. The case for the regional security-communities approach to world order rests on the assumption that a safer alternative to the present international system is both necessary and desirable. The problem of expanding the number of regional security-communities is a formidable one given the minimal integration of Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The conception of a network of regional security-communities proposed has been vigorously criticised by Johan Galtung as an example of a "harmony of interests" model leading to world government. In theory the formation of a number of such communities in the future would reduce the incidence of inter-State conflict by assuring the peaceful settlement of intra-regional disputes.
