Abstract
With the commencement of the Seventh United Nations’ Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD VII) during the second week of July 1987 serious doubts were being raised about the future of the organisation.1 The present discussion seeks to analyse the impact of UNCTAD on international economic reform and its relationship to other international economic institutions and fora involved in similar areas. Although the efforts of the seven UNCTAD Conferences over two decades constitute a continuing enterprise there will be a special focus on UNCTAD V and VI to evaluate these recurring efforts, before the conclusion of the seventh session of the Conference.2
with a note by Marc Williams
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Notes
See Thomas G. Weiss, Multilateral Development Diplomacy in UNCTAD (London: Macmillan, 1986) pp. 1–15; on the fate of one of its principal proposals (on commodities) see The Economist, ‘Commodity Agreements — not worth a bag of beans’, 20–26 June 1987, pp. 71–2.
M. J. Peterson, The General Assembly in World Politics (Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1986) p. 160.
UNH, op. cit., pp. 44–9. Also see Weiss, op. cit., pp. 16–22 and Robert L. Rothstein, Global Bargaining: UNCTAD and the Quest for a New International Economic Order (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1979) pp. 103–11 and 228–39.
The conflict between market criteria and institutional intervention is somewhat simplistic because the former is subject to various non-market forces as well; for example, the monopoly power of private corporations and the impact of government economic policies. Alfred Maizels put it well in a recent article: ‘… the normal workings of these market forces must be seen as a reflection of the powerful entrenched institutional position and bargaining power of developed countries’, Alfred Maizels, A Clash of Ideologies’, IDS Bulletin, vol. 15 (July 1984) no. 3, p. 20.
Restructuring the international economic framework, Report by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to the fifth session of the Conference, UN New York 1980, TD/221/Rev.1, esp. pp. 7–8. Also see Edmund Dell, ‘The Common Fund’, International Affairs, Vol. 63 (Winter 1986/87) no. 1, pp. 1–38.
Jagdish N. Bhagwati, ‘Rethinking Global Negotiations’ and John G. Ruggie, ‘Another Round, Another Requiem? Prospects for the Global Negotiations’ in Jagdish N. Bhagwati and John G. Ruggie (eds), Power Passions and Purpose (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1984) pp. 21–31 and 33–47, respectively. Also Edmund Dell, op. cit.
Deepak Lall, cited in The Economist, 15–21 August 1987, p. 55.
Waivers were introduced in 1965 but without full exemption from reciprocity. For a full account of UNCTAD’s relationship with GATT see R. Krishnamurti, ‘UNCTAD as a negotiating instrument on trade policy: the UNCTAD-GATT relationship’ in Michael Zammit Cutajar (ed.), UNCTAD and the South-North Dialogue, The First Twenty Years (Oxford: Pergamon, 1985) pp. 48–60.
Pedro Roffe, ‘UNCTAD Code of Conduct on Transfer of Technology’, Journal of World Trade Law, vol. 19 (November/December 1985) no. 6, pp. 669–72.
Robert W. Gregg, ‘Negotiating a New International Economic Order: The issue of Venue’, in Rudiger Jutte and Annemarie Grosse-Jutte (eds), The future of International Organization (London: Frances Pinter, 1981) p. 56.
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© 1989 Paul Taylor and A. J. R. Groom
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Sen, G. (1989). UNCTAD and International Economic Reform. In: Taylor, P., Groom, A.J.R. (eds) Global Issues in the United Nations’ Framework. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07734-2_10
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