ABSTRACT
The momentous changes that have taken place in the international system since 1988 are transforming the familiar contours of the international order. Many of the assumptions upon which the postwar global alignment was based have virtually disappeared. War ended after eight years, Soviet troops were pulled out of Afghanistan after nine years of bloodletting, Vietnam began a process of disengagement of troops from Cambodia, and the People's Republic of China's hostility toward Vietnam began to be toned down. The changes in South Asia may not be as dramatic as in Eastern Europe, but the ramifications for the region will nonetheless be quite considerable. The end of the Cold War, the incorporation of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the capitalist world economy, and the creation of an integrated market in Europe have altered the pattern of international economic linkages and trading relations, which will inevitably have their resonances in South Asia.
