Restructuring the Post-Cold War World Economy

In exploring the consequences of changes in Eastern Europe for Western Europe, the Third World and the global economic order, this article examines the need for economic management which is more solidly based on the new theory of international trade, and which extends beyond the national level. There is a clear move towards the formation of regional blocs, the intention of which is to strengthen the industrial countries against the uncertainties and risks involved in the current reshaping of the world order by multipolarity, as well as in the growing nationalist tensions and movements for national independence. This is bound to either further maginalize the majority of developing countries, or increase their dependence on the few regional centres that are emerging.