ABSTRACT
We humans are in a pickle. The many books examining our current predicament (war, climate change, environmental degradation, growing inequality, and resource depletion, to name just a few) try to end hopefully with a “what we can do” section. Invariably, the authors suggest cooperation, diplomacy, and united efforts instead of the deadly competition that currently holds sway. When we resolve to end the short-sighted violence, we immediately encounter three interrelated problems: the competitors are usually claiming “justice,” for their “rightful” share of the pie in the face of a badly-intentioned opponent; the power to prevail by force lies beneath the surface give-and-take we associate with negotiated settlement; and thus we are left with a world where justice is sacrificed to power. In the final analysis, the only consensual alternative to coercion is for power to choose to relinquish force, to willingly subordinate itself to the common good, to forego the amoral right of might.
