ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the role of regional powers in the Third World in coping with future conflict. It focuses on how regional powers handle their security problems and what uses they make, or can be expected to make, of modern weapons. The chapter analyses the likely impact of Third World regional powers on their external environments and to explore the implications for US security policy. National ambitions can be threatened or altered by revolutionary internal changes: radical political change, the mobilization of existing ideological commitments, or even the accumulation of power through an alliance that offers external supplements can produce shifts in perceptions and goals. Few of the sample countries display near-term ambitions for expanding their direct political and military influence much beyond the immediate regional context. Of the countries studied, only Vietnam, and to a lesser extent China, India, Egypt, Argentina, and Brazil have significant capabilities to project power beyond their own borders.
