INTRODUCTION

In the late twentieth century it is now increasingly recognised worldwide that humanity faces four interlocking crises of unprecedented magnitude, all of which have the potential for the destruction of whole peoples and some of which threaten the extinction of the human race itself. The four crises are:

• the existence and spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction and the overall level of military expenditure;

• the affliction with hunger and absolute poverty of some 20 per cent of the human race, mainly in what is misleadingly called the Third World;

• environmental pollution and ecosystem and species destruction at such a rate and on such a scale that the very biospheric processes of organic regeneration are under threat;

• intensifying human repression resulting from the increasing denial by governments of the most fundamental human rights and the inability of increasing numbers of people to develop even a small part of their human potential.