ABSTRACT
For some two centuries, the Western world has taken pride in knowing that the rapid takeoff in its economic development that began with the industrial revolution has produced ever greater material comfort to larger and larger segments of society. The normative generalization relevant to strengthening global security in our time is that only community authorization should justify the threat or use of force, which means that force ideally should be wielded in the interests of the whole community. At the current stage of world historical development, advances in human rights, dignity, and justice require participation in the political and social process. The ideal of achieving human dignity through a recognition of human equality is what underlies much of the quest for an improved reality for humankind. The danger in that state of affairs always has been that it hides the social obligation of each sovereign and each sovereign society from view.
