Publication

The widespread perception is that we live in an unstable and dangerous world. But data tell us that in the recent decades violence has declined, development has spread and international institutions have played a modest but increasing role. The fragility and reversibility of these apparently positive trends are acknowledged and the discrepancies between perceptions and realities discussed. However there seems to be consistency between the short- and medium-term transitions and those visible over the millennia in human history. Moreover, the simultaneity of the three trends is of significance, with the normative one potentially encompassing and consolidating them all.