Originally published in 1981, this book provided an up-to-date and critical review of the recent history and current status of the main economic institutions affecting international trade and relations at the time. The authors emphasise the economic effectiveness or otherwise of such bodies as GATT, IMF, EEC, UNCTAD and the World Bank, but take account of the political factors present in both the initial ‘design’ and in the way that the institutions have developed. In particular, the book analyses the changed degree of dominance which the USA had been able to exert on the international community.
Originally published in 1981, this book provided an up-to-date and critical review of the recent history and current status of the main economic institutions affecting international trade and relations at the time. The authors emphasise the economic effectiveness or otherwise of such bodies as GATT, IMF, EEC, UNCTAD and the World Bank, but take account of the political factors present in both the initial 'design' and in the way that the institutions have developed. In particular, the book analyses the changed degree of dominance which the USA had been able to exert on the international community.
What made me write this book was a feeling that students of international economics needed to fill out their knowledge of the theory with work on the practice of the major international economic organizations, many of which are having a growing influence on the national economies of their members. There was no single volume given over to a concise treatment of these organizations. The annual reports of the international organizations themselves can be consulted, of course, but as a rule these are not noted for being brief and to the point (the items of importance have to be fished out of a sea of useless detail), nor do they go in for criticism of their own activities. In selecting the organizations to be dealt with in the book I was guided by the influence they exert. I have left out those whose activities consist mainly in the drafting of recommendations to which, however meritorious they may be, little or no attention is paid. Some of them are included in the Introduction, which provides a summary of a number of institutions not discussed separately in the body of the work. There are, however, two exceptions: the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as the organization replac ing the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) whose meet ings have succeeded in drawing much attention of the press.
An assessment of the relationship between the major international economic organizations (IEOs) and the developing countries. The emphasis is on the role of multilateral actors and therefore the organizations discussed are intergovernmental rather than nongovernmental.
Against the backdrop of a 20-year revolt against free trade orthodoxy by economists inside the UN and their impact on policy discussions since the 1960s, the authors show how the UN both nurtured and inhibited creative and novel intellectual contributions to the trade and development debate. Presenting a stirring account of the main UN actors in this debate, The UN and Global Political Economy focuses on the accomplishments and struggles of UN economists and the role played by such UN agencies as the Department of Economic (and Social) Affairs, the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development, and the Economic Commission for Latin America (and the Caribbean). It also looks closely at the effects of the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s, the growing strength of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the 1990s, and the lessons to be drawn from these and other recent developments.
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs. Subcommittee on International Development, Finance, Trade, and Monetary Policy
At no time since the creation of the IMF and World Bank, (and later of the WTO) has it been a more opportune time to examine the work, reform and future of the international monetary and trading systems. This text provides an assessment of these institutions from both an American and European perspective.
Cohn's topic of global trade is of enormous and proliferating interest. He provides a good background from 1945 to the present and on core contemporary themes such as civil society participation and the domesticisation of the trade agenda. Whilst there is a wealth of literature on policy-oriented aspects such as negotiating rounds, there are few that provide the careful, comprehensive historical overview that this work offers and none that do so with reference to international institutions such as the G7, Quad, OECD, and UNCTAD as well as the WTO in global trade governance. This seminal work has been awarded the British Columbia Political Science Association Weller Prize for 2003. Cohn's political science background will appeal directly to a university audience and a broader public policy market. It is also suitable for those interested in trade in the cognates of economics and law. This work's theoretical framework embraces and synthesises the major approaches in the field of international relations and will be appropriate for the dominant schools of realists and liberal institutionalists alike. It could therefore be apt for courses on international relations theory or international political economy taught in a theoretical mode. This book reinforces and broadens the focus of all previous works in The G8 and Global Governance series.
This book brings together a collection of papers on international trade and international finance, instead of treating the two as disjoint fields of study. The volume, while focusing on the recent developments and frontiers of research in international trade and international finance, also emphasizes the inherent integrated nature of the two subjects; some of the papers are overlapping across the two areas. A unique feature of the proposed volume is that it unravels some new issues in addition to re-examining certain old issues in a new perspective and thus covers wide ranging issues with an emphasis on policy. The book covers issues mostly relating to emerging market economies, which has increasingly assumed importance in the context of globalization. The book contains some survey papers covering the frontiers of current knowledge on important themes like recent developments in trade theory and empirics, foreign exchange market, institutions in trade and finance, interrelation and interaction between international trade and international finance. The papers, fruit of rigorous and original research, are written by internationally and nationally reputed authors along with promising young researchers on the subjects. The book substantially contributes to the growing literature on issues relating to trade and international finance in emerging market economies and extends the frontiers of knowledge. The book is expected to have the widest possible readership comprising of advanced undergraduate and graduate students as well as senior researchers working in international trade and international finance.
In an increasingly globalised world, it is becoming ever more difficult for nation states to adapt to the international consequences of market failures, government failures and global externalities without co-operation and co-ordination with other countries. In the absence of any form of world government, the most effective solution to this problem is either to create new international institutions, reform existing ones or work within the prevailing institutional framework.
