ABSTRACT
The revolution in world politics in the last decade requires reassessment of global security issues. 1 The bipolar structure of global politics which has defined the basic rules of conduct of both major powers and of minor states is no longer present. Nor is contemporary world politics characterised by the seeming stability induced by the strategic imperatives of mutually-assured (nuclear) destruction, which defined superpower relations with one another, as well as their relations with local clients. 2 In the last half-decade we have been faced with a fluid evolution of the international system that has yet to settle down into a well-defined alternative structure. Consequently, there is considerable uncertainty regarding rules of conduct in such a system and such uncertainty is seen by some scholars as a source of instability.
