ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the various components of a design for an alternative future. It examines the Soviet position and its points of convergence and divergence from the Third World. The dominant Western powers themselves look at it in one way; the newly emerging powers-namely, the countries of the Third World—look at it in quite a different way. The crisis posed by the "challenge from the South," following the solidarity of the members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the consequent stimulation of a wider solidarity among Third World countries, produced considerable nervousness in the advanced capitalist countries. The divergence has grown further with the assertion of the Third World following the OPEC action in 1973. The same crisis also underlined the crucial importance of military and strategic power, which was presumed to have been of no avail in dealing with the group of OPEC but which, in fact, got a new lease of life.
