ABSTRACT
The nature of inter-state conflict in Latin America has undergone drastic changes in the last quarter century. The new elements of ideology and geopolitical thinking which characterized the nature of inter-state conflict in Latin America in the 1980s made these conflicts much harder to resolve than the old traditional conflicts involving relatively minor territorial disputes. The traditional twentieth century inter-state conflicts in Latin America generally involved remote frontier areas of little economic significance. This reflected the fact that since colonial times Latin America had tended to develop national core areas separated by considerable stretches of relatively empty space. The principal significance of the ideological component in Caribbean Basin conflict situations is that it raises the dangerous possibilities of a superpower confrontation and tends to exacerbate and exaggerate the significance and impact of conflicts which could otherwise be kept at a lower level.
