Sources of Third-World Conflict

Abstract

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the deterioration in East-West relations which accompanied it have clearly shown just how important parts of the Third World are for the development of international relations and for the global balance of power. If there is any substance in the comparison between the present situation in international politics and that of 1914, it is the fear that a global conflict involving the super-powers could be sparked off by events in a remote corner of the world and that regional political tension could, by means of a largely unpredictable process of escalation, develop into a major international confrontation. The Third World is the scene of numerous conflicts with a wide variety of antecedent causes and varying degrees of importance. In this paper conflict is used in the broadest sense of the term and embraces wars between states, revolutions and social, political, ethnic and sectarian tensions which, even if they have not developed into open crises, have international implications.