Showing papers in "International Organization in 1978"

The second image reversed: the international sources of domestic politics

Abstract: The international system is not only an expression of domestic structures, but a cause of them. Two schools of analysis exploring the impact of the international system upon domestic politics (regime types, institutions, coalitions, policies) may be distinguished: those which stress the international economy, and those which stress political-military rivalry, or war. Among the former are such arguments as: late industrialization (associated with Gershenkron); dependencia or core-periphery arguments (Wallerstein); liberal development model (much American writing in the 50s and 60s); transnational relation-modernization (Nye, Keohane, Morse); neo-mercantilists (Gilpin); state-centered Marxists (Schurmann). Arguments stressing the role of war include those which focus on the organizational requirements of providing security (Hintze, Anderson), the special nature of foreign relations (classical political theory), territorial compensation (diplomatic history), and strains of foreign involvement (analysis of revolutions). These arguments provide the basis for criticism of much of the literature which uses domestic structure as an explanation of foreign policy, in particular those which (such as the strong-state weak-state distinction) tend, by excessive focus on forms, to obscure the connection between structures and interests, and the role of politics. These arguments also permit criticism of the notion of a recent fundamental discontinuity in the nature of international relations.

Dependence, dependency, and power in the global system: a structural and behavioral analysis

Abstract: Although there is already a huge literature on dependence in international relations, many fundamental conceptual issues remain unresolved. Is the pattern of dependence of advanced industrial states on one another different in kind or only in degree from the dependence of peripheral capitalist societies on other members of the global system? What are the essential components of dependence that one must identify before constructing an adequate measure of it? What is the relationship between dependence and power? Since the answer to the first question is that the two patterns of dependence differ in kind, the first order of business is to provide the grounds for this distinction. Dependence is the pattern of external reliance of well-integrated nation-states on one another while dependency, which is closer to the dependencia tradition, involves a more complex set of relations centering on the incorporation of less developed, less homogeneous societies into the global division of labor. The conceptual components of dependence are the size of one's reliance on another, the importance attached to the goods involved, and the availability of these goods (or substitutes) from different sources. The components of dependency are the magnitude of foreign supply of important factors of production (technology, capital), limited developmental choices, and domestic “distortion” measures. Finally, the concept of dependence is most easily integrated into bargaining analyses while dependency is more fruitfully applied to analyses of the structure of relations among societies.

Multinational corporations and dependency: a dialogue for dependentistas and non-dependentistas

Abstract: Three assertions about relations between multinational corporations and host countries in the Third World frequently appear in the dependencia literature: 1) that the host countries receive too few benefits; 2) that foreign investment causes distortions in the local economies; and 3) that foreign investment distorts host countries' political processes. These propositions can be reformulated as testable hypotheses, to which non-dependency studies of oligopolistic competition, bureaucratic politics, and transnational relations are relevant. Identifying critical areas of disagreement between dependency and nondependency approaches may help scholars to design their research in such a way as to enrich the dialogue between dependentistas and non-dependentistas.

Economic dependency in black Africa: an analysis of competing theories

Abstract: Current attempts to understand and remedy the underdevelopment and peripheral international roles of Third World states derive from three competing paradigms: conventional social science, Marxism, and dependency theory. Each paradigm claims to explain past history and to make relevant policy recommendations for Third World leaders. Yet, none of these approaches has so far been formulated as complex, well specified, causal models. One can build theory relevant to data by specifying competing three-variable models relating economic dependency to economic performance and development potential. An empirical evaluation can then be made of the dependency theory proposition that economic dependency inhibits positive economic performance (growth and development). Partial correlation and regression analyses of economic data from thirty tropical African states in the middle and late 1960s provide little support for two dependency-based models and evidence in favor of conventional and Marxist models. These findings have implications for theory, further research, and policy.

Dependence and dependencia theory: notes toward precision of concept and argument

Abstract: The concept of dependence is used in several different scholarly traditions to refer to aspects of relational asymmetry in international and transnational relations. In three such traditions, dependence refers to three quite different kinds of concepts with the result that possibilities are restricted for fruitful dialogue about dependence across these scholarly traditions of dependencia theory, systematic empiricism, and formal, analytical theory. To aggravate this problem of multiple “languages,” there are two basic conceptual notions generally associated with the term dependence. These two meanings have clearly distinct implications for the nature of a theory of dependence, the character of entities dependent on one another, and the assessment or measurement of dependence. Thus, if the “language” gap is to be bridged and fruitful dialogue is to occur among different scholarly traditions, attention must be directed to the basic conceptual meaning of dependence in each tradition. Dialogue between systematic empiricism and dependencia theory is possible if empiricists recognize the fundamentally historical and historicist character of the particular substance of dependencia theory. These principles are exemplified here.

Multinational staffing and organizational functioning in the Commission of the European Communities

Abstract: Staffing the Commission civil service with nationals from all nine European Community member states is necessary for pragmatic and political reasons, but multinational staffing also creates serious problems for the organization. Requirements for nationality balance in the Commission civil service have negative repercussions for personnel policy as well as the civil servants' career prospects and morale; nationality-based informal organization often interferes with organizational performance; multinational staffing results in a multilingual civil service and thus creates language and communication problems; the interaction of persons from nine member states creates a potential for nationality-related friction; and civil servants may have divided loyalties to the Commission on the one hand and to their member states on the other. National representation in the ranks is taken most seriously in those Commission units that have important policy concerns. Hence expanding the Commission's powers will increase the saliency of the nationality issue in that organization.

Beyond asymmetry: critical notes on myself as a young man and on some other old friends

Abstract: One of the intellectual precursors of contemporary dependency theory is Albert O. Hirschman's National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade (1945) which examined the political potential inherent in the foreign trade sector. By focusing on the asymmetries in economic relations among countries, and on the possible manipulation of these asymmetries, Hirschman described the structural bases of power and influence in the international system. Like modern dependency theory, so does National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade suffer from a conceptual shortcoming: neither one takes up the issue of the countervailing, dialectical forces generated by these asymmetrical structural relations. A preponderance of objective capabilities may be countered by an asymmetry of opposing desires, as when the “weaker” nation desires its freedom from domination more than the “stronger” nation is bent on dominating it. Another dialectical force may be found in the imbalance between the attentions of any two countries with the stronger country's global involvement diluting its attention while the weaker country is able to concentrate its diplomatic skill on only one or a few salient partners. Thus, calculations based solely on economic power, i.e., on the ability to inflict punishment through economic means, are bound to be inadequate guides to the understanding of evolving relations.

Introduction to the special issue of International Organization on dependence and dependency in the global system

Abstract: When the idea for this special number of International Organization first took shape, the theme was a rather general one, “asymmetric international relations.” I had hoped to encourage contributions from the areas of small state and client state behavior, dominance and dependence, imperialism, and great power—small power behavior. While all of these phenomena are tied together by a shared asymmetric property, this is a “bland common denominator” on which to launch a collection of articles. As the enterprise evolved, we decided to develop a clearer focus on dependence and dependency. It became clear that there were two different sets of theoretical concerns before us which were sometimes labeled identically and often treated indiscriminately for analytical purposes. We drew the distinction between dependence as external reliance on other actors and dependency as the process of incorporation of less developed countries (LDCs) into the global capitalist system and the “structural distortions” resulting therefrom. There are similarities between these two approaches. Both have a predominant focus on relational inequalities among actors and both are equally interested in the vulnerabilities of members of the global system resulting from these unequal relations. However, there are important differences too. In addition to basic theoretical differences, there are equally fundamental gaps in the supportive methodologies. The dependence orientation seeks to probe and explore the symmetries and asymmetries among nation-states. This approach most often proceeds from a liberal paradigm which focuses on individual actors and their goals and which sees power in decisional terms. The individual actors are usually internally unified states which confront the external environment as homogeneous units. With the nation-state as the basic unit of analysis, analysis of dependent relations can be carried out on any combination of states, from dyads up to larger groupings. The fact that dependence is a term which can be meaningfully discussed at the dyadic level allows one the luxury of dealing with large numbers of observations. Thus, dependence theory is easily linked to statistical modes of analysis.

Perspectives on the international relations of food

Abstract: The global food problem is delineated and a set of concepts for analyzing the world food system is provided and used to critically examine the food system. The global food problem consists of an interrelated set of elements which affect countries differently. These elements are 1) the food shortage threat; 2) instability in the food supply stemming from price fluctuations unpredictable markets and an undependable trade flow; 3) an unpredictable supply of food for importation; 4) low agricultural production in developing countries; and 5) malnutrition. The global food system consists of production centers consumption centers and distribution channels. Conditions that characterize the system are the result of regimes i.e. the rules and norms which control the system at any particular point in time. A regime can be identified by 1) observing transaction flows the allocation of resources and food diplomacy patterns; 2) by examining the agendas of food issue forums; and 3) by listening to the arguments used to bolster or criticize specific food policies. The global food system created by the current regime which has been in existence since the 1940s is a system which divides the countries of the world into surplus and deficit countries and has 2 distributional channels. These channels are 1) commercial sellers and buyers and 2) concessionally linked donors and recipients. The regime which created this system was imposed primarily by the US government. The regime is characterized by 1) a belief in the free market system 2) a willing to provide famine relief but a refusal to address the chronic malnutrition problem 3) the conditional acceptance of the distribution of food in the form of food aid outside the market system; 4) the promotion of the flow of technological information; 5) respect for national sovereignty which has the effect of preventing aid from reaching the poorest segments of the population of developing countries; 6) assignment of a low priority to the development of self-reliance in developing countries; and 7) a willingness to accumulate a grain surplus for distribution to countries with shortfalls. The activities of multinational agribusiness tend to reinforce and support this regime. The international food network consisting largely of UN agencies can modify the food regime by 1) encouraging governments to confront critical food issues 2) collecting and disseminating information about the food problem 3) providing services which governments are unable to perform because of political considerations; and 4) legitimize policies via multilateral sanction. The system supported by the present regime promotes the exploitation of the poor by the wealthy and ignores the need for distributive justice. There are some indications that a new regime is in the process of being developed as evidenced by the new international economic order.

The international energy agency: state influence and transgovernmental politics

Abstract: Major decisions of the International Energy Agency (IEA), such as those that established the emergency management system or minimum selling price for imported oil, have been made through a process of interstate bargaining, in which the United States is the most influential actor. A core group, including the IEA secretariat and Germany as well as the United States, has dominated the politics of the organization. Policy implementation, however, has been carried out largely through the national review process of the IEA, which involves a good deal of transgovernmental politics: coalitions between the secretariat and national government agencies, or among those agencies, are frequently important. Transgovernmental networks in the IEA provide opportunities for the exercise of influence by the secretariat. Nevertheless, they are not an unmixed blessing for the organization, since its significance in world politics continues to depend on the support of powerful governments.

Drug firms and dependency in Mexico: the case of the steroid hormone industry

Abstract: The relationship between foreign control and national development is a central concern of the Latin American “dependency school” of analysis, which focuses on the impact of investment by multinational corporations (MNCs) in the Third World. In the MNC-dominated steroid hormone industry in Mexico, foreign control has led to two major consequences which characterize it as “dependent”: first, there has been an unequal distribution of benefits from its growth, favoring the central capitalist economies and the MNCs more than Mexico; and secondly, at the level of domestic policy formulation, there has been a restriction of choice among local development options, since these conflicted with “global” priorities implied by the dependent situation. As an alternative to MNCs, national firms in Mexico would very likely have performed better in terms of Mexican national welfare (defined as local industry growth) and global consumer welfare (defined as identical products at lower prices). The attempt made by the Mexican State during the last two years of the Echeverria administration (1975–1976) to increase its autonomy vis-a-vis the MNCs by restructuring the industry with a new state-owned firm met with only limited success. Reasons for this include Mexico's declining prominence in the world industry due to the availability of substitutes for its raw material, and the ability of the MNCs to build a strong defense using local political allies. Yet despite the difficulties, Third World countries will need to develop strong states which can deal effectively with multinational corporations if they are to successfully establish their own development priorities.

The marginal utility of income transfers to the third world.

Abstract: If the poor will be with us always, how poor must they be? Should we abandon hope of any significant improvement in living conditions for the hundreds of millions of terribly poor people in this world, and, instead, by some desperate notion of “triage,” concentrate our limited resources on trying to help those who, while still poor, nevertheless start from something a little better than the bare subsistence level of India, Bangladesh, or poorest Africa? Such questions raise innumerable further questions about morality, about the sources of global poverty, and about the organizational capacity of poor countries ever to cope with their problems. But they also raise some serious empirical questions about what improvement in living standards we can hope for when a minority of people, however rich, give up part of their income or wealth to try to help very much larger numbers of poor people. Recall such old antisocialist arguments in the United States that even if the richest 5 percent of the people were to give up half their income to the poor, that would only be enough to bring the poorest half of the population just one-third of the way toward the average income level for the country. In short, why should so few give up so much to help so many so little?

Asymmetrical bargaining in the conference on security and cooperation in Europe

Abstract: Bargaining relationships in formal international conferences and negotiations may involve structural asymmetries. A comprehensive analysis of these asymmetries in bargaining may be found in a synthesis of literature from formal game theory, structural-manipulative approaches to bargaining, social psychology, and the study of political influence. Propositions based on this literature focus on two factors which are likely to contribute to asymmetrical outcomes in negotiations: unequal costs to the negotiators from the failure to agree, and unequal resources available to employ in bargaining or influence attempts. An analysis of bargaining in the section of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) dealing with the issues of European security gave qualified support to these propositions. Influence over the final text in the CSCE agreement is related to a rough index of losses which would have resulted for individual nations from the failure to reach agreement in the CSCE. In addition, influence over the final text is related to each nation's resources, especially military resources. More significantly, the two superpowers exerted considerable asymmetrical influence over what was not included in the CSCE agreement, thus exercising a substantial veto. Thus, the asymmetrical outcomes within the CSCE negotiations were reflective of both differences in “threat potential,” that is, in the losses which actors would receive if no agreement had ensued, as well as differences in resources.

The diplomacy of world food: goals, capabilities, issues and arenas

Abstract: Food is a factor in international diplomacy as a direct instrument of policy and as a condition underlying policy. Grain trade is particularly important. For most of the postwar period, principal grain exporting countries pursued policies designed to support domestic prices, using foreign agricultural policy to dispose of accumulated surpluses and to pursue broader non-food (political and economic) objectives. Grain importing countries came to rely on cheap food supplies in international markets, neglecting incentives to stimulate domestic production. Worldwide food shortages in 1973–74 made clear the need to consider international as well as domestic food requirements. Food considerations acquired a foreign policy dimension, while foreign policy considerations sparked a debate about the use of food for power. A return to surplus conditions in world food markets reduces the opportunities for the exercise of food power, while creating the conditions to meet historically unattainable food goals. To accomplish this, a system of international coordination and review of separate national food policies may be needed. Such a system would ensure greater accountability of private groups to governments and governments to one another without relying excessively on either automatic market forces or a centralized world food authority.

United States food policy 1972–1976: reconciling domestic and international objectives

Abstract: US food policy is a product of four legitimate but competing concerns: (1)farm policy; (2) domestic economic policy; (3) foreign policy; and (4) global welfare and development policy. Five major policy episodes in 1972–76 illustrate their interplay: the Soviet grain sales of 1972; the soybean embargo of 1973; the food aid debate of 1974; the food reserves proposal of 1975; and the Soviet grain sales of 1974 and 1975. Competing policy concerns were more explicitly and effectively balanced in 1974 and 1975 than in 1972 and 1973, and policy tended to shift toward protecting domestic food prices in 1973, and meeting world food needs in 1974. But it shifted too late to salvage important policy concerns. The 1972–75 experience suggests that the State Department cannot be the lead international food policy agency because domestic farm and economic concerns are too deeply engaged. But interagency committees based in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) lost their effectiveness as crises waned and their members' attention turned to other things. The best organizational strategy for food would therefore be to accept the day-to-day predominance of the Department of Agriculture and seek to broaden the orientation of the secretary and his staff. Reciprocal State sensitivity to non-foreign policy concerns can help protect international economic and political interests; so can monitoring and intermittent intervention by EOP staffs.

Technological dependence in the Andean group

Abstract: In the metalworking and chemical industries of Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, the ownership structure of firms, their product sector, and propensity to obtain technology through licensing are closely associated. Foreign firms cluster in industrial sectors with complex and volatile technologies, in which their technological advantages permit the exaction of monopoly rents. Ownership structure and product sector, as well as firm size, are related to the firm's decision to obtain technology by licensing rather than by generating it autonomously or obtaining it through other means. Ownership structure, product sector, and licensing appear to interact with choice of machinery imports and research and development activities in such a way as to produce a “technological dependence syndrome” in which opportunities for “learning by doing” are consistently missed.

Interdependence and the Italian Communists

Abstract: The recent growth in Italian Communist party (PCI) influence on national policy making has been accompanied by a reversal of the party's traditional opposition to Italian participation in NATO and the European Communities. Why? Most fundamentally, this reversal is due to Italy's increasingly irreversible involvement in the network of economic interdependence that links the Western economies. PCI leaders have come to recognize and accept the political consequences of interdependence. Other important factors contributing to the policy shift are: 1) changes in Italian public opinion that made opposition to Italy's Western alignment increasingly costly for the PCI; and 2) constraints imposed by the PCI's need to seek alliances with non-Communists, both in Italy and elsewhere in Western Europe. Serious problems lie ahead for Italy's relations with her allies, but these problems would only be exacerbated by an apocalyptic assessment by Western leaders of the PCI's foreign policy line.

Toward a ‘working peace system’ in Asia: organizational growth and state participation in Asian regionalism

Abstract: Over the period from 1950 to 1975, regional cooperation increased dramatically in Asia. Expansion in the scope and capabilities of regional organization proceeded through the establishment of 24 IGOs primarily concerned with technical and economic problems. With institutions characteristically specific in function and making decisions through consensus and intergovernmentalism, the structure and growth in Asian organization may be described from the theoretical perspective of classic international functionalism. The more politicized IGOs have not been successful and politicization has been most influential in retarding organizational growth. The rate of growth in Asian organization increased only as politicization from East-West, North-South, and developmental and power differences among participants was avoided by limiting participation to compatible nations. A rising rate of growth in Asian organization was correlated with an increasing concentration of cooperative activity among nations in Southeast Asia compatible in policies on East-West and North-South issues and similar in power and level of development.

Integration and development in the Commonwealth Caribbean: the politics of regional negotiations

Abstract: In 1968, just ten years after the ill-fated West Indies Federation had been established, Caribbean regional integration was re-launched with the creation of the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA). By 1974, the twelve Commonwealth Caribbean member countries had adhered to the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) which had evolved out of CARIFTA. This progress in the evolution of Caribbean integration stopped with the failure to adopt the Draft Agreement on Foreign Investment and Development of Technology, and since that time regional negotiations have been undermined by conflicts over intraregional trade and bilateral arrangements at the expense of regional cooperation. Analysis of the politics of regional negotiations in the Caribbean provides an interesting example of the process of integration among developing countries.

World hunger: a structural approach

Abstract: Chronic hunger is rooted in poverty and radically unequal distributions of income and assets, within and across countries. In market or quasi-market systems, the distribution of income and assets structures both food consumption patterns and food production systems. Radical inequality leads to structures which make it difficult to eliminate hunger, both because they increase the quantity of food needed to do so and because they support production structures in which the poor are “marginalized.” The effect of radical inequality is to severely limit the usefulness of “market mechanisms” as efficient instruments for reducing hunger. Marginal adjustments of existing food markets are unlikely to make any real progress in ending chronic hunger. Broadly based development and/or changes in the structuring mechanisms supported by market economies are necessary.

Regionalism in Latin America: prospects for the Latin American Economic System (SELA)

Abstract: In October 1975, all twenty-five Latin American and Caribbean nations created a new, exclusively Latin American regional economic organization, the Latin American Economic System (SELA). The organization's two general goals are: (1) to promote regional cooperation for economic development, mainly through the creation of Latin American multinational enterprises; and (2) to establish a system of consultation for the adoption of common economic positions vis-a-vis third countries and international organizations. This paper is an exploratory inquiry into the prospects for SELA. The method of analysis employed is to draw from the literature on Latin American integration five problem areas common to integration efforts (weak institutional structures, an unequal distribution of the benefits of integration, nationalism, competing ideologies, and external pressures) to use in assessing SELA's probable evolution. SELA has the potential to further regional integration, but faces an uphill struggle to gain the active support of key countries; it is more likely to achieve its objective of coordinating the policies of Latin American states on international economic issues.

The World Order Models Project and its Critics: A Reply

Abstract: Perhaps because of the "complex interdependence" of my long association with Tom Farer, his review essay devoted to the World Order Models Project (WOMP) was a deep disappointment for me on several scores. Two quotations are expressive of my reaction. The first, uttered by a Republican businessman stunned by Nixon's visit to China in 1971: "When Dick Nixon sells out his friends, he really moves the goods." Farer's elaborate mixture of snipes, barbs, innuendo, and geniune criticism represents a sort of accomplishment, it really moves the goods, and has been received with thinly disguised glee by all those disposed to regard WOMP with antipathy in any event. The second quotation is from The Futurological Congress, a novel by the Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem: "Oh Professor-I felt like shoutinghere you sit, and out there the world is coming to an end. "1 What I mean to suggest, of course, is that the perils of the world situation are so severe that we need to gather our energies for constructive efforts. Farer's review, whatever else, is so condescending and acerbic that I doubt that anyone could claim for it a constructive intent or effect.

The politics of food scarcities in developing countries.

Abstract: The food problems of the less developed countries (LDCs) are described and the political factors involved in the distribution and production of food are delineated. Indias food production and distribution programs are used to illustrate factors involved in food supply politics. Food issues and problems relevant to the sub-Saharan Arican countries are also emphasied. Many developing countries are unable to meet the domestic demand for food and are highly dependent on imports. These problems are most severe in several South Asian countries and in most sub-Saharan African countries. Per capita food outputs have either not increased or have declined in a number of these countries in recent years. The cost of importing food has also increased and consumption levels already below the minimum level have declined further. The imbalance between the food nees and food supplies is further aggravated by the unequal distribution of income. The food problems in the LCDs stem form the current world food system and the LDCs lack the power necessary to change the system. The various policy adjustments which the South Asian and sub-Saharan African countries have made to deal with the food problem and the outcome of these policies are desribed. The reduction in international food aid since 1972 had a serious impact on these countries who could no longer rely on food aid to prevent famine in poor agricultural years. India developed its own successful grain reserve system but the cost of developing the system was high. Many African countries lack a sufficient food reserve system as was obivous during the Sahel drought. Efforts to increase food production are hindered by numerous political factors including 1) vested interests which prevent the institutional reforms necessary for agricultural development 2) the tendency of the private sector to exert control over government decisions at the expense of the rural poor and 3) the international food system. Numerous other political factors which impinge on the food distribution and production system in LDCs include 1) interregional conflicts 2) factionalism and the patronage system in rural communities 3) class conflict 4) the impact of technology on farm laborers 5) conflicts between different levels of government 6) international dependency and 7) ideological issues.

Attitudes of diplomats at the United Nations: the effects of organizational participation on the evaluation of the organization

Abstract: In the literature which focuses on the participation of individuals in an international organization, two hypotheses are stated. The first rs that the longer a person serves an organization, the more favorable his attitude toward the organization becomes. It is hypothesized that the duration of the diplomatic assignment constitutes a factor influencing the evaluation of the organization.

A funny thing happened on the way to the market: thoughts on extending dependency ideas

Abstract: Despite the efforts of the editor to cast the theoretical net as widely as possible—to include an eclectic mix of structural and behavioral dimensions of the concept of dependence—the bulk of the writings in this volume respond in some fashion to what I have elsewhere called “the dependency way of framing the question of development and underdevelopment.” It could hardly be otherwise, for the majority of authors represented here have had their primary research experience in or on Latin America. And it is out of the Latin American developmental experience—and its multiple failures and frustrations—that the main body of dependency ideas has grown.

Negotiating a treaty on environmental modification warfare: the convention on environmental warfare and its impact upon arms control negotiations

Abstract: The technology of warfare is in a constant state of flux. In recent years weather modification activities have been employed by military forces and other methods of environmental manipulation have been contemplated for military use. The development of the 1976 Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques and the negotiations in the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament (CCD) which culminated in its adoption are focused upon. To date this treaty has generated little in the way of commentary in either the press or in academic journals. The treaty and the politics surrounding its drafting and adoption are considered and shown to be quite instructive on disarmament politics and the operation of the CCD. Further, they reflect the fact that the North-South polarity found in a number of issue areas in world politics is increasingly evident in the field of disarmament and arms control.

National attributes associated with multilateral and US bilateral aid to Latin America: 1960–1971

Abstract: Proponents of multilateral aid have generally assumed that such aid is less responsive than bilateral aid to the political characteristics of recipient countries. Many critics of foreign aid have challenged this assumption, arguing that US influence ensures that multilateral programs serve the same interventionist purposes as bilateral. This study of per capita aid allocations to Latin American countries confirms that there are strong similarities in the distribution of aid. However, when the relationships between aid data and data on national attributes are examined, the results do not support the notion that political characteristics account for the similarities. For some multilateral agencies, there is little or no association between aid and recipient political attributes. For others, there are associations with political features, but the associations are not identical with those of US bilateral aid. In short, whatever the determinants behind decisions on the allocation of bilateral and multilateral aid, the same considerations with regard to the politics of potential recipients do not appear to be operating. All of this does not mean that US interests are not being served by multilateral programs. They may be served in a variety of ways, and still be consistent with the results reported here. That important issue is beyond the scope of this very limited study.

Toward innovation in the global food regime

Abstract: The market-oriented focus of the global food regime, as it functioned from the late 1940s to the early 1970s, has proved inadequate. Preoccupation with perfecting markets led food policy makers to underemphasize the need for increased production in the Third World. It also led them to exaggerated attention to short-term surplus disposal and too little concern about scarcity. The regime emerged from a context in which unilateral actions and domestic considerations prevailed. This resulted in regime pathologies in which mutually beneficial international food solutions were not reached and multilateral coordination to analyze and solve food problems was discouraged. Such regime inadequacies cumulated over time; while they did not cause the food “crisis” of 1973–74, they blunted international responses to it. Reform of the global food regime is needed to (1) raise priorities accorded to rural modernization in Third World countries, (2) increase attention to malnutrition and chronic hunger, (3) provide resources for development, and (4) structure and stabilize the market so as to provide security of supply and income. The legitimacy of multilateral forums and processes also must be enhanced.

Restructuring the United Nations system: institutional reform efforts in the context of North-South relations

Abstract: Since 1975, the United Nations has undertaken major deliberations to consider institutional reform of the UN system. Such restructuring activities have sprung from widespread dissatisfaction with the United Nations' capacity to deal with problems of economic development and relations between industrialized and developing countries. UN reform efforts have focused on two broad areas: reshaping the deliberative and policy-making operations of central UN institutions in order to reach more coherent global policies on international economic and social affairs; and reorganizing the planning, coordination, and implementation of UN programs to achieve these policy goals more effectively. In 1977, the General Assembly adopted the report of an intergovernmental Ad Hoc Committee, which provided detailed guidelines for prospective UN restructuring, and assigned its recommendations to relevant units within the UN system for the purpose of implementing these reforms. Major themes emphasized in these guidelines include an increased centralization and integration of the UN system in dealing with international economic and social affairs and improved efficiency and coordination of UN operations and activities in these areas. Fundamental to the course of UN restructuring deliberations—and to the extent and significance of eventual institutional reforms—has been the linkage between UN reorganization and the disposition of substantive North-South issues, as the restructuring exercise remains tied to the pace and direction of negotiations concerning “a new international economic order.”