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Synopsis This thought-provoking exploration of the likely future face of international politics in the age of globalization has a dual focus. In the first place, the author argues that the unipolar world of globalization offers most developing countries nothing but a race to the bottom. There may be no clear alternative to a market-driven economic strategy. The bargaining power and sense of solidarity of Third world counties have never been weaker. But their shared problems remain a present reality which requires political expression. So does the Third World still exist? What role, if any, can it have in the new topography of power? And with what agenda in the 21st century? These questions lead the author into his second theme. Latin America has had a much longer experience of independence than Africa or Asia. IT has had to confront how to conduct its relations with an over-mighty neighbour. Latin America may often have been on the margins of Third World politics and international leadership. But it may now be well placed to help developing counties concert together.The author, who, unusually, has a long and intimate experience of both South Asia and Latin America, provide an up-to-date and deeply informed reflection on modern Latin American history in the context of its wider relations with the Third World and the USA in the past half century, and particularly the 1980s and 90s. The result is an insightful account of where developing countries now are and how they might seek to reassert themselves in order to defend their interests in the new world order.