The Issue of World Order

(also "America's International Role," "The Post-Cold-War World -- Bosnia, etc.")

Books

The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution. The entire book concerns this problem, presenting as it does the theory that the lack of order in the intersocietal system is the root of the answer to the question: "Why has the evolution of civilization been so destructive and tormented?" For a social evolutionary perspective on the opportunities created by the end of the cold war, and on the failure of the world community to make good use of them, see the "Afterword to the Second Edition: The Challenge of World Order."

Out of Weakness: Healing the Wounds that Drive us to War. An exploration of some of the psychological and spiritual dimensions of the problem of conflict among peoples. Especially relevant may be Part III: "Boundaries."

The Illusion of Choice: How the Market Economy Shapes Our Destiny, see Chapter 13, Power Struggle for a discussion of how economic competition in a global market narrows the range of a society's options, and what kind of international agreements can help keep viable some important options that might otherwise be foreclosed.

Op-Ed Articles

"US Military: Use it for Good" published, Christian Science Monitor, 12/23/96.

When a small effort on our part can save many lives, should we not make that effort? Why do those who oppose the US being 911 for the world not also press to establish an international force that can help the weak and terrorized?

"The Danger of Half-way Measures" published Baltimore Sun, 9/17/96, and San Francisco Chronicle.

Showing how the politics of contemporary United States both compel the president to take action in situations like Bosnia and present-day Iraq and also mandate that the action be indecisive and ineffectual --which is regrettable.

"Intervention: Reframing the Problem" published, Baltimore Sun, 1/19/95.

Argues for taking steps to create an alternative way of addressing problems like Haiti and Somalia and Bosnia besides 1) having the US take on the job of being the world's policeman and 2) doing nothing and leaving unfortunate peoples to terrible fates.

"We Are the United States of America" published, Christian Science Monitor, 6/7/94.

America does have a special role to play in the world, and Senator Dole is right in suggesting that our [then] current stance on the crisis in Bosnia fails to fulfill that role.

"The Contagion Out of Bosnia" published, Baltimore Sun, 1/26/94.

We delude ourselves if we think that the "baring of the teeth" in Bosnia is not our problem, for it is those behaviors that expose the teeth that are most contagious among us human animals.

"American Troops to Bosnia" unpublished, 1994.

Counters the arguments of opponents of American involvement.

"Air Power in Bosnia Can't Fail" published, Baltimore Sun, early 1993.

Makes the case for stronger action by the international community in Bosnia: the relevant criteria for an action's success is not that it assure that transgressors against international norms will go unrewarded, but that at least they do not go unpunished.

"No Less Vital" published, Christian Science Monitor, 12/10/92.

It is a very narrow understanding of what our national interests are that declares that they are not jeopardized by the atrocities in Bosnia.

"World Order and the Kitty Genovese Horror" published, Baltimore Sun, late 1992.

Those who argue that the United States should not trouble itself to use troops to help the hundreds of thousands facing starvation in Somalia should consider the national outrage and soul-searching that was evoked in Americans, years ago, when the New York neighbors of Kitty Genovese thought it none of their business while she was murdered, screaming for help, beneath their windows.

"Up in Smoke" published, Christian Science Monitor, 11/26/91.

Written before the Yugoslavian conflict had yet embroiled Bosnia, the piece begins, "As the smoke rises above the ancient Croatian city of Dubrovnik, from fires ignited by Serbian shells, the dream of a truly new world order is dissipating." And the captioned sentence in the Monitor read, "Will the right of a people to choose its own destiny depend on its having the armed might to repel its neighbor's predations?"

"Eulogy for Mikhail Gorbachev" published, Baltimore Sun, approx. 1991.

Upon his departure from power, a tributre to the role that Mikhail Gorbachev played in creating the possibility of a new, more humane era in civlized history.

"New World Order, New Thinking" publishing history uncertain, written approx. late March, 1991.

A critique of the decision by the Bush Administration to leave Saddam in power, not even to appeal to the UN for a mandate to intervene in the Iraqi regime's butchery of the Kurds and Shias. A look at the real choices faced at the end of the Gulf war, and the choice made, shows the hollowness of the Bush Administration's talk of a "new world order," and how trapped in the old ways of thinking about geopolitics the American leaders still remain.

"Fighting the Last War" published, Christian Science Monitor, February 1991.

Calls upon the peace movement to change the thrust of its efforts: abandon the futile effort, suitable to that "last war" in Vietnam, to end the war and work instead to make this war serve the purpose of establishing precedents and structures to move us toward a more reliable global system of collective security.

"Get the King, Spare the Pawns" published, Baltimore Sun, late 1990.

Argues that in a conflict against a regime like Iraq's, the American disavowal of any intention to target Saddam Hussein is wrong-headed. We should eliminate the source of the problem, sparing his people, before Saddam can bring down with him more destruction on the world.

"Seize the Moment in the Persian Gulf" published (I believe), Atlanta Constitution, Dallas Morning News, fall, 1991.

Thoughts on how the crisis between the world community and Iraq can best be used to define a positive new international order.

"What Are We Fighting For?" published, Christian Science Monitor, August, 1990.

An argument made, soon after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, that the crisis represented an opportunity to define the post-cold-war world order in a way that was not just about a great power defending its interests, but about the world community defining a new order in which norms of justice, and not 'might make right,' will govern.

"Envisioning a Post-Cold War World" published, Baltimore Sun, late 1989 or early 1990.

Calling for envisioning what kind of international system might be constructed to replace the cold-war polarity now disappearing; this time of fluidity affords a historic opportunity to move things in a direction of our choosing, and we should not squander this opportunity due to a lack of a vision of possible futures better than our tormented past.

Radio Shows

"An Improved Paranoid Fantasy," broadcast, Monitor Radio, summer of 1995.

A satiric reflection on the way the UN has disgraced itself in its conduct of its mission in Bosnia.

See also "Liberating Men" under Contemporary moral culture