The growing number of individuals, institutions and countries that seek tomaintain existing borders has resulted, in some instances, in an escalation of conflictsand, in other instances, in greater cooperation among the aggrieved. Curiously enough,different people, institutions and countries land on different sides of different issuesdepending on the border or boundary threatened with transgression. An advocate mayfavor breaching existing borders in one area but support enhancing borders in another.This inconsistency of behavior suggests a great ambivalence about the larger societaltransition that is taking place, an ambivalence that shows no sign of diminishing.
While the overall outcome of World War III is hardly clear, several changes havealready become obvious: weakening of authority, loss of sovereignty, decline ofcentralized power, enhanced leverage for individuals, "reshuffling" of ecosystems,increased power for macro-species, broadening of transparency and lessening ofdiversity.