ABSTRACT
The attainment of total and complete universal disarmament, would mean that an ancient social institution, namely war, would have been abolished. The abolition of colonialism following the Second World War was helped by resistance abroad and a moral outcry. Slavery disappeared as a consequence of the changing requirements for labour accompanying the spread of industrialization. Slavery was not considered a problem until the middle of the eighteenth century. The first country formally to abolish slavery was Denmark, the most recent was Southern Yemen. With the Industrial Revolution the labour patterns changed. There are four levels of social organisation discernible: primal society, traditional society, industrial society, and electronic society. An increasing number of countries are moving away from national military forces into transnational security schemes. All governments should be urged to fund research in academic and other institutions and to establish new institutions which devote their energies to understanding contemporary social evolution and to serve the needs of humanity.
