Truth is, if they wanted and if united, the military in every country throughout the world could take over the government. It could do so that day, that hour, if it chose to. With a half dozen tanks and a bunch of soldiers it could walk into the parliament, eject the politicians, and the job would be done. There would be very little that the suited and cerebral gentlemen there could do in response. Thereafter, a small presence in every town and city and the coup would be complete.

Fortunately that doesn’t happen very often. Societies usually manage to be more intelligent than that, at least in the stable democracies. They realise that a country run by martial law is not the best thing.

Why do I make this point? I make it in the interests of perspective, to remind myself how fragile the democratic consensus is. The ease and speed with which that consensus might be subverted should never be overlooked. You only need to scan around the world today and not so very long into any country's history to be reminded of how quickly men go for their guns and to hell with the agreements. We need always to be mindful of this and applaud consensus.

Considered political philosophy, good legal systems as fair as they can be, sophisticated social systems to protect individuals didn’t come easily or quickly. They were struggled and strived for. We should remember this if we are trying to do at the international level what was achieved by the democratic nations in the latter part of the 20th century. That may well be the story of the new century: how to establish international institutions which work for peace and prosperity in the best interests of everyone and have the teeth for implementation of policy when necessary.