The control of man's violence against man presents to modern society its greatest problem. A capacity to deal with the most devastating type of conflict -- international war -- is crucial to human welfare and even to the survival of civilization. Nations have become interdependent in technology and economy, but world political organization is based on a system of sovereign states now divided into hostile camps armed with absolute weapons.

This book is a study of the development of collective security, or international cooperative action for the maintenance of peace. The approach is...