The Issue of Development, the UN, and the New World Order

The new world agenda which emerged towards the end of the Cold War did not include amongst its priorities the issue of development, which is of fundamental interest to the majority of Nations and concentrated on issues which were of importance to the developed Nations. 1992 witnessed an apparent inflection, with the approval of resolution 47/181 “A Programme of Development" by the General Assembly, and the documents which, as a result, were elaborated by the Secretary General. Additional proposals can be found in “The Spirit of Cartagena,” final document of the VIII UNCTAD, as well as in the Reports on Human Development from the UNDP. However, more than a strategy for development, what appears to have emerged is a new philosophy of development which corresponds to the empire of market economics: help and assistance diminish steadily, the importance granted to such issues fades, and it now even seems possible that the UN might abandon the commitments it assumed regarding this matter in 1960. If the issue of development is not paid serious attention, the risk of a global eruption will persist.