Kane identifies and analyzes some of the major conflicts of principle which characterize world politics today. These include debates over the ethics of war, economic redistribution, resource consumption and the rights and responsibilities associated with membership of a political community. According to the author, debates such as these are being drawn towards increasingly polarized positions represented by strongly universalist and particularist moral and political ideologies, such as cosmopolitanism and republicanism. As such, this study suggests that the potential for ideologically-driven conflict will constitute the greatest challenge facing scholars and policymakers in the twenty-first century.