ABSTRACT
The key precipitants of the change were twofold, and they together constituted a major shift in the basis of Western power and made potential disasters visible in several directions. The first precipitant was the dissolution of Western colonial empires and the political emergence of a great many "developing" countries. The second precipitant, not so easily datable or initially definable, manifested itself in fragmentary form. The principal contribution to political radicalization in developing countries was, however, the intervention in Vietnam by the United States and a few of its Western allies. The laissez-faire panacea for deepening economic problems inside and outside the West thus registered little success. Democracy would liberate oppressed populations and lessen their hostility toward Western countries. In Western countries themselves, many affluent youth, intellectuals, and a variety of minority groups who saw themselves as oppressed did the same.
