Universal Values and World Politics

Abstract

The history of thought in any discipline reflects a progression in study from the more obvious and simple variables to less well defined and more complex ones. In political studies, geopolitical and institutional influences were among the first to be subjected to careful analysis and assessment. From time to time additional variables attracted attention as social environments began to feature them, and as thought in other areas called attention to them. Independence movements and struggles for participation in decision-making have recently provoked reconsideration of some notions of legitimacy; and innovations in engineering and electronics have provided additional models and tools for analysis of decision-making. Explanations of society are made, successively giving prominence to each new variable and mode of thought. Schools of thought and fashions in models are evidence of this process. A contemporary trend is to look behind structures, systems, and institutions to discover the drives, fears, anxieties, aspirations, or other motivations that create them. This seems to lead to consideration of human values. There has always been a wide interest in values among philosophers and political scientists. Probably no single topic has been more discussed. However, it has never been clear what precisely was being discussed. Values has been used to describe the long-term aspirations of states, such as peace and prosperity; the national interests of states as perceived by authorities; immediate policy objectives; the strategies by which goals are sought; and ethnic, religious, and ideological norms that are associated with different cultures and traditions. It has also been employed as a generic term to cover all the above, that is anything which is held to be valuable, the test being a willingness to expend resources in its defence or attainment. A recent usage relates to conditions necessary for the preservation of social systems; for example, the value attached to preserving rates of change