Kenneth E. Boulding at CSF Towards a World Social Contract by Kenneth E. Boulding Of all the problems which beset the human race at the moment, unquestionably the most urgent is the breakdown of the classical system of national defense. By national defense as a world system I mean the arrangement by which certain national centers have been able to maintain a degree of internal peace and security by the process of the geographical segregation of violence. This system has served mankind with intermittent success for about 5000 years. It is in fact highly characteristic of that state of society which we might call civilization of which war, in an organized sense, has been a highly characteristic feature. This period of history is now over.
National defense is only possible as a world system under two conditions.
The nations must be far enough apart from each other, and each must suffer sufficient loss of power as it moves away from its home base so that each nation is stronger than any other at home. In the course of human history the range of the deadly missile has continually increased, and improvements in the cost of transport have in effect brought the nations closer together. We are now rapidly approaching the point where the range of the deadly missile is 12,500 miles. This is the end of national defense as a system. The earth is simply not large enough for it.