ABSTRACT
The quest for a viable policy toward the Third World will be a recurring theme in US foreign policy. Devising a consistent and coherent policy toward a large group of countries that is extremely variegated is obviously extraordinarily complex. This chapter focuses on general orientations, on the relationships between various issues, and on the factors that must be taken into account in determining policy choices, but the details of specific policies toward particular countries and issues must be left aside. It examines several scenarios of North-South relations in the 1980s. The direction and force of major external trends and the political and economic responses of the developing countries, both individually and as a broad coalition, are likely to set the framework within which the developed countries must devise and implement their policies toward the South. There are many ways that the North-South framework could disintegrate.
