ABSTRACT
In Central America, social and economic factors constitute the fundamental cause of the revolutionary phase. The Western economic security should not rely on the assumption that an improved global economic system would eliminate political risk. Western countries may be led to intervene in a Third World conflict either because significant immediate interests are at stake or because doing nothing would increase the probability of later crises that could, at some point, create a showdown. The possibility of a Marshall Plan for the Third World has sometimes been suggested. The Marshall Plan worked because the human capital was there in Europe. Western Europe and Japan, in particular, are vulnerable in this respect and, indirectly, so is the United States, which in the long run is weakened by whatever weakens its allies. The West should be prepared to act through political and, if necessary, military means in certain local conflicts.
