In this straightforward exploration of core problems facing humanity, hope is combined with realism based on confidence in the energies and capacities of citizens outside government to meet the pressing challenges we face today. Saunders presents an eye-opening approach to politics, focusing on the cumulative, multilevel, open-ended process of continuous interaction over time in whole bodies politic across permeable borders, either within or between countries. Showing how this approach works on the ground through examples from West Virginia to South Africa, Tajikistan to China, this book is a major contribution to our understanding of the state of the world and the prospects of democracy.