An interesting piece, but I am afraid I cannot share the author's optimism.
War is a horrible thing, to be sure, but also promotes popular democracy. It is no coincidence that democracy developed in belligerent Europe, while ossified hierarchies persisted in more peaceful Asia. It is no coincidence that social democracy and welfare state had its heyday after the mayhem caused by the 2WW, that the Civil Rights Movement emerged after 2WW and Korea, and that the so-called 'Sixities' took place during the peak of the Vietnam War.
If leaders ask people to sacrifice their lives "for their country," that country must give something in return. If the combat conscript armies are replaced with mercenaries and reserve armies of the unemployed, however, the mandarins, the brahmins, the aristocrats, the captains of industry, and the Ivy-League processed neo-liberal priviligentsia come to an unchallenged conclusion that 'they are the country."
I bet anyone a beer that if the New World Order stability persists unchallenged for, say, a hundred years from now, a system that developes will make India's castes looking like a democracy. The underclass will be kept not just as a reserve of cheap labour power but, thanks to the progress in bio-tech industry - as a living pool of biological spare parts for the rich, surrogate incubators, gene pool, human guinea pigs, etc.
Regards,
Wojtek Sokolowski