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The Global Economy and the Third World: Coalition or Cleavage?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

Douglas C. Smyth
Douglas C. Smyth
Affiliation:
Florida Technological University
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Abstract

Positions taken by delegations in the U.N. General Assembly during debates of the Sixth and Seventh Special Sessions are analyzed to determine clustering on economic issues and their sources. Third-World states took positions consistently distinct from those of Eastern and Western countries, and economic attributes appear to explain this. Differences within the Third World were not consistent, however, and were more apparent in the Seventh Special Session. Divisions found between Third-World states on issues such as resource allocations and monetary reform included: states with slow versus fast economic growth rates; states dependent on Western versus Eastern aid; and regional differences. Neither OPEC nor a “fourth world” appeared distinct from the Third World as a whole. Coalitions, varying by issue, appeared to overlap to build the Third-World “bloc.”

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , July 1977 , pp. 584 - 609
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1977

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12 It ought to be noted that the developed Western states, despite our negative comments about “bloc” behavior, were more unified than the Socialist states on many issues, and were the most unified in the later session.

13 Symbolic positions varied similarly, when size of country (income) was held constant.

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