Explain the significance and importance of the demand raised by the developing countries for a New International Economic Order (NIEO). Are they likely to achieve their objectives of the NIEO in foreseeable future.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Route 1 decolonisation = sovereignty without economic power → NIEO carried by 1974 Declaration + Charter of Economic Rights and Duties → it names the order neo-colonial → inequality becomes a question of rules, not charity
Route 2 open from the asymmetry (≈80% of population, under 20% of resources) → Prebisch on terms of trade → hence a demand for structural change, not more aid → same claim: rules, not charity
material grievance: ~80% population / <20% resources → Prebisch: terms of trade; South in primary commodities, North in manufactures → “trade not aid” agenda: commodity prices → resource sovereignty → control of MNCs → technology transfer → real vote in IMF/World Bank → machinery: G-77 + NAM → Indira Gandhi, Algiers 1973: political independence incomplete without economic independence → pivot: the power the demand challenged decided its fate → Wallerstein: attack on the hegemonic capitalist order, defended by entrenched powers → North plays for time, splits G-77 → cartels defect → Washington Consensus displaces the agenda → structural residue: US ~16.5% of IMF votes + effective veto → Strange: “structural bias”
the demand is not dead → objectives advance in fragments: 2010 quota shift → NDB + AIIB lending without harsh conditionality → climate talks where the G-77 presses equity and historical responsibility
Route 1 full NIEO improbable; power is not redistributed on request → foreseeable future gives more voice, technology access, South–South cooperation, not a new order
Route 2 the NIEO survives as an argument rather than as an order → gains come inside the system, not by replacing it
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
Also asked on this head
Evolution of the International Economic System — 8 questions in the Vault.
- Latin America has made moderate success in countering US-led global economic order by forming various
- The return of trade barriers and economic sanctions has diminished the spirit of GATT. In this context, discuss the factors contributing to the decline of WTO...
- Identify and evaluate the reasons for deadlock in the WTO negotiations on fisheries between the developing and developed countries.
How this is taught
The same flow snapshot, built for every head of the syllabus, with the answer written in class.
The first session of Foundation 2027 is published in full.
Six programmes across three levels.