ABSTRACT
The dearth of research on buffer systems is linked to the advent of the nuclear age and space shortening technologies, particularly ICBM's and high speed, high-tech weaponry which brought in to question the need for buffer systems. The relationship among the several elements of the buffer system determines the strength of the buffer effect or the degree to which the buffer state is resistant to "outside encroachments." Several of the most intriguing possibilities have to do with the most basic elements of the concept of the buffer state - the definition of what constitutes an opposing power, the relationship among the elements of the buffer system and the locational characteristics of the buffer state and the buffer system. Tosches cites an example of a buffer system in which the buffer, Albania, separates the states of China and the Soviet Union. The chapter also presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book.
