ABSTRACT
This chapter considers some basic factors that will shape US policy toward the Third World; redefine a concept that can be used as an intellectual framework; set forth the elements of an overall strategy; and see how these approaches can be applied to specific regions. Policymaking for the Third World suffers from one unique difficulty. Few senior US officials, let alone members of the general public, have had experience dealing with Third World problems, except perhaps with those in the Middle East. Policymakers can conjure up more or less real visions of threats to important interests in any part of the world. The more immediate US concern should be avoiding actions that could undermine regional cooperation and especially Indo-Pakistani rapprochement. The Gulf presents US policy with an exceptionally difficult challenge: maintaining vital interests without an assured capability to defend them, it is the prototype of this type of situation, which occurs frequently in the postimperial world.
