effects. On the one hand, the economies of the West-- North America, Japan,
and the European Community (EC)--experienced unprecedented growth and
prosperity during this time, which extended to certain Third World countries
known as NICs (newly industrialized countries), many of which are clus-
tered around the Pacific Rim, and to a lesser degree, to Latin America. On
the other hand, the economies of most Second World countries (especially
the Soviet Union) failed to expand during the 1980s. As their economic
performance flattened, the gap between the First and Second Worlds, as
well as the gap between the First and Third Worlds, became a chasm.

The reasons for the extraordinary growth in the West are complex and
controversial, but three factors stand out. The first, the high technology
revolution, brought great increases in the generation, transmission, and ap-
plication of knowledge to economic purposes in the 1970s and 1980s, creat-
ing what is commonly called the information revolution, which distin-
guishes the most advanced economies of the 1990s. The second factor was
the internationalization of economic activity. Global communications in the
1980s increased well beyond the bounds predicted in the 1960s and 1970s.
The multinational corporation (MNC) of the 1960s--a corporation that is
located in one country but produces and sells products in numerous
countries--became the "stateless corporation" in the 1980s--one so inter-
national in ownership, management, labor force, and product derivation and
mix that it is, for all practical purposes, beyond identification with any
single state. The third and most controversial factor tied to the prosperity of
the West was the global privatization of the international economy. During
the 1980s, the governments of several First World countries deregulated
economic activity, especially in the high technology areas. Deregulation
created the incentive for massive investment, which helped fuel the growth
of the 1980s and has continued into the 1990s.

This economic revolution was selective in its effects on different states.
The core contributors and benefactors were the most advanced states of the
First World (or Tier)--North America, Western Europe, Japan, and the
Antipodes ( Australia and New Zealand). A number of putative Third World
countries along the Pacific Rim and, gradually, South America have also
joined this globalizing system. At the same time, two groups of states have
been conspicuously omitted. These are the old Second World, the econo-
mies of which were simply unprepared for the changes involved and were
excluded from sharing in technology, and much of the old Third World
(notably most of Africa and a good bit of central and southern Asia). As we
shall see, this distinction is important in understanding contemporary pat-
terns of violence.

From the Soviet viewpoint, the economic imperative joined military

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