ABSTRACT

The most important consequence of the last child-seventh generation ethic is that human beings are put at the centre of the decision-making process, and their welfare and contentment becomes the criterion by which to judge economic development and institutional restructuring. Major indicators of human welfare, such as infant mortality, life expectancy and literacy, demonstrate historically unparalleled progress even in the third world. The incidence of war in human society is as pervasive as the wish for peace seems universal. The nuclear spectre haunting humanity is the most urgent manifestation of the inadequacy of the institution of war. The use of nuclear weapons in such wars is limited by the fact that their political and moral costs would be greater than the desired military and political objectives. The nuclear dimension has given particular cogency and urgency to the progressive delegitimisation of war in the century. The nuclear equation has been irrelevant in determining the outcomes of regional conflicts.