This book begins with the premise that we face a global crisis of racial, ethnic, and religious strife, environmental decay, poverty, and war, and that the solution lies in "new thinking" that stresses interdependence and cooperation over confrontation. The author's basic solution -- that people around the world improve their moral behavior -- ignores the complex social roots of immoral behavior and the equally complex institutional structures on which moral behavior often rests. Peace, in other words, frequently rests on the prevalence of liberal institutions, which in turn is encouraged by economic development; laying these foundations is not simply a matter of being more accommodating in conflict situations.
