Questioning assumptions

Some of the assumptions that have been shattered in the past decade are (a) world peace is maintained by balance of power; (b) nationalist ideals were a phenomenon of the nineteenth century Europe and twentieth century anticolonial struggles; (c) communism/free market capitalism is the boon/bane of the future; (d) people have mastered nature / the creative abilities of people have no limits; (e) growth employment and work for all; (f) with growth, the gaps between rich and poor people grow smaller; (g) the welfare state is the crowning achievement of social policy; (h) the sovereignty of the nation-state is sacrosanct; (i) big is better; high quality comes with high wages.