Reforming global development institutions

The fourth section picks up the story with the “lost decade of the 1980s” and the UN conferences of the 1990s, and ends with the Monterrey 2 In this paper “the South” represents the collectivity of developing countries. [...] The fact remains, however, that the economic institutions and the system of rules emerging in the wake of WWII were designed largely by the developed countries, with the victorious powers (particularly the U. S. and the U. K.) playing the dominant role. [...] To be sure, some developing countries participated in the conferences leading to the creation of the UN and its specialized agencies, the Bretton Woods institutions, and the International Trade Organization (which was stillborn and led instead to the establishment of GATT). [...] The GATT fell far short of the original aims and scope of the ITO: GATT did not include the function of commodity price stabilization, or the objectives of employment creation, development, or the control of restrictive development practices, all of which were intended objectives of the ITO. [...] This is what led to the Second Extraordinary Session of the Heads of States and Governments held in Lagos in July 1980 to pass The Lagos Plan of Action and The Final Act of Lagos for the economic development of Africa.