ABSTRACT
This chapter describes whether Liberal policy can offer a better prospect than presidency over the lingering dissolution of a great legal, political and humanitarian system — lingering because, like Byzantium in the era of its dissolution, people command the finest administrative service the world has ever seen. Liberal policy is not absolved from dealing in platitudes — or principles, according to one’s viewpoint. Resolutions prepared for Liberal Assemblies, however, afford little more than an outline of policy. The test lies in filling in the details. The vocal nationalists are usually a small number, compared to the population of any territory. Doubtless there are among them the Nehrus and Tshekedis of the future, as well as the Bustamantes and the Jagans. A policy of anticipating events is even harder than a policy of ‘go-slow’, and will have to be both tough and imaginative. The dilemma of reconciling security and economic progress also appears in the matter of marketing and distribution.
