ts
of its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade
and finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of
the national characteristics of its federated units."

Elaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi,
the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, commented in 1931 that: "Far from aiming
at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to
broaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with
the needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate
allegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is
neither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in men's
hearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the
evils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,
nor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of
climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that
differentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider
loyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human
race. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests
to the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive
centralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on
the other. Its watchword is unity in diversity".

The achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of
national political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of
clearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles
regulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the
United Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them
have unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative
effects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves
incapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since
the end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.

The predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the
nineteenth century when Baha'u'llah first advanced his proposals for the
establishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was
propounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.
Shoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: "What else could these weighty
words signify," he wrote, "if they did not point to the ine