But it is no longer the kind of draining, hostile confrontation that was familiar during the Cold War. This is an example of how geography affects perception. Japan was a very hungry, unhappy, defeated country in 1946. But virtually all the countries now considered part of ''the South'' were scarcely noticed colonies, whose economic conditions were simply lumped into the policies and statistics of one or the other empire. The Cold War, from after World War II through the 1980s, promoted decolonization, which led to a big revision of international economic patterns, which helped lead to the end of the Cold War, which has brought the bewildering phenomenon of globalization.
Globalization has very uneven results.
Flows of investment capital converge on some 20 developing countries out of more than 100. Trade has ballooned, growing 15-fold since 1960, but in fairly narrow bands. Clearly, it has been a great benefit to some, a serious threat to others and a challenge to most. Longer-term, though, more inclusion in the fluid world economy is bound to help in the goal of ending poverty. What the rich are really rich in is the ability to produce wealth, not just consume it.