Human Modernization

The following passage in a textbook about African politics seems to me
equally applicable at the general level of the human nation, the human
homeworld. It is quoted to assist comprehension of the challenges
facing policy makers and populations within this planetary nation:

The concerns of many of the first works on African politics, therefore,
centered on one or several of the six challenges of political
development that were identified as facing countries in their attempt
to achieve modernization. The first challenge was defined as one of
identity: fostering a common sense of purpose among culturally diffuse
groups. The second challenge was viewed as one of legitimacy: arriving
at a consensus on the valid exercise of authority (the most visible
instrument for legitimation, the political party, became the object of
intense research). The third was that of participation, the need to
guide public demands for inclusion in the decisionmaking process into
constructive--and controllable--channels. The fourth was one of
penetration: the quest to secure an effective government presence
throughout a given territory. The fifth challenge was one of
distribution: balancing the public's demand for goods and services with
the government's obligations to provide such general welfare objectives
as economic growth, resource mobilization, and national defense. The
final challenge addressed in this literature was that of integration:
the creation of a coherent set of relationships among the many groups
and interests competing for access and control within the new state
framework.

Politics and Society in Contemporary Africa, Naomi Chazan et al. pp.
15-16


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