Conflict and intervention in the Third World

Abstract

'Great powers' and 'the Third World' are both groupings which excite controversy; while one can find much in common between the states which constitute each of them, there still remain differences between such countries as the United States and China on the one hand, and India and Papua New Guinea on the other, and thus there may be endless argument about what the groupings mean in practice. Nonetheless, both groupings are worth retaining. Two contrasting attitudes may emerge from the case studies presented here. A confirmation of the Third World as harried and distressed, largely through the actions of great and near-great powers, or alternatively the appearance of relative autonomy of the Third World states. Never before have there been so many sovereign states, and never before so many weak ones. This volume brings together seven case studies of regional conflicts in the Third World and great, particularly super, power involvement in those conflicts. While a number of factors relating to the origins and course of such conflicts and great power motivations are bound to be unique to each conflict, the book illustrates that there are certain common denominators both in terms of regional conflicts per se and great power involvements in them which need to be highlighted and presented in a systematic fashion, if any worthwhile conclusions are to be drawn regarding the interaction between regional and great power dynamics in the Third World. The book contains considerable material for further argument - material in both the intertwined areas of fact and opinion, as well as being about the most important and complicated aspects of contemporary international relations.