I have argued that the exceptional volatility of our situation is forcing upon us a reassessment of both politics and political philosophy. Our diagnosis has shown that both are today in crisis. In the course of this political crisis new forms of political order have come into being (mass democracy, totalitarian government, the corporate state, supra-national alliances and organizations), new political forces have been unleashed (imperialism, anti-colonialism, global capitalism, contemporary terrorism in all its colors), and new political ideologies have sprung up (liberalism, socialism, anarchism, Communism, fascism, National Socialism, libertarianism, Islamic jihadism).

These transformations have disrupted the practice of politics and just as much our understanding of it. We have become unsure, in consequence, of the possibilities and the limitations of politics. We find it impossible to agree on a common good. Even worse, we are losing sight of the need to search for any such good. We are in danger of losing politics itself in this process since it has the search for the common good as one of its objects. But human life cannot do well without a shared pursuit of the good and a sense of community. Even individuality cannot flourish without a common language, shared concepts, and a shared culture. Everybody speaks of the threats to our natural environment; the disintegration of our political order is even more insidious because less noticed. It reveals that there are dangers that come from within in addition to those from outside.