Volume 26, number 1 (2005)
The UN and Development: A Historical Focus
Introduction
“The United Nations system of international organizations was launched in the wake of the Second World War, with the aim of ensuring a multilateral approach toward international relations, and to ensure that no one country would succumb to the temptation to seek world domination … In subsequent decades, the UN came to play the predominant role in advancing the project of economic and social development, involving diverse institutions such as the International Labour Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The role played by these and other UN institutions cannot be overestimated, thus it is a curious and serious anomaly that to date there has been no history of the contributions provided by the UN to the international development project, neither at the level of ideas or institutionally … ”
Powerhouse of Ideas: The United Nations Intellectual History Project — A Book Review Article
“‘Ideas are a main driving force in human progress, and ideas have been among the main contributions of the United Nations from the beginning … at its best, the United Nations has always been rooted in powerful ideas reflecting human concerns and aspirations.’ Thus writes Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, in his foreword to Ahead of the Curve?, the first volume of the United Nations Intellectual History Project (UNIHP) series. It is uncommon today to think of the United Nations as a powerhouse of ideas concerning global economic and social development and humanitarian action.While much has been written about the UN and its activities, relatively little has been said about its intellectual contribution to the world of ideas. This lacuna is now being filled by the UNIHP … ”
UN: The Unfinished Social Agenda (1995–2000)
This paper examines and reflects on the forces for change and development that emerged in the 1990s in the context of efforts to construct a “global civil society” and an agenda that drives the organizations within the United Nations system. It is written from the perspective of “an insider” to the UN system, the author having worked for the UN for more than 30 years within the UN and INSTRAW. The reaction of the citizens of the world to the efforts of the private or corporate capitalist sector to impose its agenda has been reflected in a series of growing street protests, UN forums, and alternative NGO conferences. The reaction clearly reflects the failure of governments to keep promises repeatedly made in their official statements in the UN for half a century — more importantly, during the last decade. What are the root causes of this global disruption and disorder? What was the impact of the major UN series of conferences in the 1990s? What were the main achievements of the first major UN conference on social development in Copenhagen in March 1995 followed by a review in Geneva in June 2000? This paper addresses these questions.
Turning Point in the Evolution of Soft Financing: The United Nations and the World Bank
Half a century ago, a drawn-out and divisive debate that lasted almost a decade (1949–59) took place at the United Nations over a proposal to set up a Special United Nations Fund for Economic Development (SUNFED) to provide soft financing for the development of developing countries. This historic turning point was to have significant repercussions for the roles of the UN and the World Bank, as it came to be known, in the economic development of developing countries. Had the proposal been approved, it would have given the UN decisive leadership. In the event, opposition mainly from the United States but also from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development led to the establishment of the International Development Association, the soft financing arm of the World Bank, in part as a foil to stop SUNFED, greatly strengthening the Bank’s role at the expense of the UN. This account of what took place is based largely on archival material in the UN Archives and Records Centre in New York, the two histories of the World Bank, and the role played by a senior member of the UN Department of Economic Affairs, Hans (now Professor Sir Hans) Singer, who was intimately involved in the attempt to establish SUNFED.
Articles
Globalization and Neo-Liberalism: A Taxonomy and Some Implications for Anti-Globalization
The term “neo-liberal globalization” has become a common one in both academic discourse and in the NGOs and social movements that are typically referred to as the “anti-globalization” movement. However, the concept of neo-liberal globalization — and the relationship between neo-liberalism and globalization — is not straightforward. The reason for this is that the term “globalization” has been interpreted in a variety of ways, each with its own implications for the relationship to neo-liberalism. This essay provides a taxonomy of approaches to globalization. Four approaches are identified and differentiated by the relationship that each posits between states and markets. The role assigned to neo-liberalism in each of these four approaches is explained. The article concludes with a sketch of what this implies for our understanding of the anti-globalization movement.
Development and Globalization as Imperialism
Both development and globalization can be understood as imperialism — as different faces of the same dynamics arising out of a project of world domination and longstanding efforts of the United States to establish its hegemony. This paper reconstructs some of the major dynamics of international development, both as a strategic project and as an objective process of economic progress. It then turns toward the discourse on globalization the argument that globalization is little more than a mask for the imperialist agenda of the US superpower. The paper argues that the “new imperialism” as presented and constructed by its neoconservative ideologues is based on the overt projection of political power and military force: as war rather than local development or the projection of economic power (aid, trade, investment, globalization). It concludes that NGOs and other elements of civil society have been pressed into imperial service, providing strategic assistance to the empire to quell the fire of revolutionary ferment on the southern periphery of the system, particularly in the countryside of rural development and social movements.
L’éducation et la technologie : perspectives des femmes sénégalaises
In recent years, developed countries have systematically exported different technological innovation to Africa. These have a direct impact on the daily lives of women and their perception of education. This research project attempted to determine how African women who were exposed to different technological innovations perceive the impact of education and technologies on their social roles, their daily use of time, and what personal benefits they gain from it. For this purpose, nine groups of women in Senegal who had participated directly or indirectly in literacy programs supported by technologies were convened in focus groups. A content analysis of the material thus gathered illustrates the recent evolution of feminist thought in rural Senegal and identifies the barriers that still must be overcome.
University-Government Policy Linkages and the Knowledge-Based Approach to International Development
This article compares the role of university research and its use by bilateral development agencies in Canada and the United Kingdom. This focus is motivated by the ascendance of a new development paradigm: knowledge-based co-operation. This approach identifies knowledge as the new currency of development assistance and values relationships that foster knowledge creation and sharing. Drawing on recent studies and comparative data, this article analyses university-government interaction across a set of variables conducive to promoting knowledge creation and research utilization. It finds the official donor agencies in both countries attuned to the discourse of a knowledge-based approach to development. Yet, the framework for analysis suggests that the institutional setting, programs, and policy linkages in the United Kingdom are more conducive to fostering research utilization than in the Canadian context.
2004 Kari Polanyi Levitt Prize
Rural Social Movements and the Prospects for Sustainable Rural Communities: Evidence from Bolivia
There has been a dramatic shift in the capacity of indigenous and peasant movements to challenge prevailing hyperliberal models of development and present alternatives that foster ethnocultural diversity and social justice. Following a review of Latin America’s agrarian question and of alternative perspectives on sustainable development, this paper advances the concept of sustainable rural communities as an appropriate contemporary paradigm for addressing development issues. Evidence from Bolivia suggests that those rural social movements that avail themselves of changes to the political opportunity structure, including constitutional reform and decentralization, may be successful in developing genuine political capacity that could improve the prospects for sustainable rural communities.
Voices from the Field
Who is Driving Development? Reflections on the Transformative Potential of Asset-Based Community Development
Arising out of a critique of needs-based approaches to development, asset-based community development offers a set of principles and practices to mobilize and sustain community economic development. This paper draws attention to the connections between these principles and practices and current interest in sustainable livelihoods as a conceptual framework, the concept of social capital, the social psychology of mobilization, the enhancement of capacity and agency to engage as citizens with the entitlements of citizenship, the role of multiple stakeholders, and the issue of control over the development process. Finally, the paper points to the challenges for NGOs employing an asset-based, community-driven approach given the needs-based, problem-solving paradigm in which they operate.
Reviews
AIDS on the Agenda: Adapting Development and Humanitarian Programmes to Meet the Challenges of HIV/AIDS, Sue Holden
Good Jobs Wanted: Labor Markets in Latin America; The Inter-American Development Bank 2004 Economic and Social Progress Report, Inter-American Development Bank
Sweet and Sour: Life-Worlds of Taipei Women Entrepreneurs, Scott Simon
Why? The Deeper History Behind the September 11th Terrorist Attack on America, J.W. Smith