PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · Evolution of the International Economic System
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.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
R1 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 R2 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
Body flow
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”
Counter-view
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
Conclusion routes
R1 full NIEO improbable; power is not redistributed on request → foreseeable future gives more voice, technology access, South-South cooperation, not a new order R2 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.
