Intergovernmental Commodity Organizations and the New International Economic Order

The crisis and war in the Gulf have heightened the search for secured energy resources and proved that the Middle East is of paramount interest to ensure an uninterrupted energy supply. Political instability in the region--as well as its relations with the West--have always been influenced by matters relating to oil supplies. The issues of cooperation or competition between governments to obtain sustained supply of commodities at remunerative prices to producers and acceptable to consumers are covered by this book. It provides a scientific analysis of the positions of producers of oil and other commodities as well as their consumers. In a significant new contribution to economic development literature, this book examines the role of intergovernmental commodity organizations in international commodity trade. Araim focuses particularly on the effects of these organizations on the establishment of the New International Economic Order advocated by developing states in an attempt to regain a measure of economic control over the commodities they export. Based on extensive research and his 17-year association with the United Nations, Araim analyzes four major commodity organizations to determine their ability to regain control from transnational corporations, to repatriate profits from the development of a raw material base, and enforce an altered economic order that assists the world's developing nations. In view of increasing bloc convergence and crippling debt problems, the 1990s will refocus attention on this critical issue of the terms under which commodities are traded between North and South.

Following an introduction, the author explores the role of the UN General Assembly in promoting the New International Economic Order and the contributions of GATT and UNCTAD to the promotion of international trade in commodities. Turning to in-depth study of the commodity organizations themselves, Araim devotes a major portion of his book to OPEC because of its impact on the international oil market, its success (particularly in the 1970s) in raising oil prices for the benefit of its members, and its ability to meet the challenges facing it in the 1980s and 90s--an especially timely analysis in light of the recently ended Persian Gulf War. He then examines two other commodity exporting organizations that have had less success--the Intergovernmental Council of Copper Exporting Countries and the International Bauxite Association--in an effort to determine the reasons for their failure to appreciably influence international markets or provide economic benefits to national members. Araim concludes with a look at a major producer and consumer organization, the International Coffee Organization, showing how it has been able to play an important role in the international coffee market, despite chronic differences among producers and between them and consumers. Scholars in development economics and international trade will find Araim's work enlightening reading, while trade negotiators will find it a valuable and practical guidebook.