The changing geopolitics of space activities

Traditional space relations among civilian space actors are undergoing in the post-cold war era a rapid evolution with a growing number of new institutional entities. The cold war era and its resulting political environment, which limited space cooperation to 'intra-bloc' cooperation, has disappeared, allowing the development of new axes and mechanisms of cooperation. The internationalization and regionalization of space activities witnessed in recent years is foreseen to gain momentum, leading therefore to a new geography of civilian space activities. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.