The UN and Global Political Economy: Trade, Finance, and Development

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.