ABSTRACT
The student of human behavior can show that democracy, freedom, and justice are essential factors in all creative and constructive processes of culture. The history of today proves that tastes for cruelty, brutality, contempt, and hatred exist in human nature, and can be fostered so as to stifle and destroy Christian ethics, demands of a humane and just treatment of human beings, and even aspirations to security and prosperity. Peace, security and international law, sanctioned by a collective police force responsible only to the executive powers of the Superstate, are the only cultural devices which can prevent the recurrence of total war. The choice of freedom for the key concept of our analysis and around which it must turn, is imperative. The principle of the self-determination of nations, groups, and persons can be defined only by making clear how far the freedom of collective decisions has to be related to rights of minorities and to legitimate claims of individuals.
