North-South relations and the management of the international system

Abstract

The debt crisis and related developments in the last decade have amply confirmed that the present relationships between the South and the North are fundamentally inimical to the development of the South. They deny the South the resources it needs for development and deprive it of any significant say in decisions about the operation of the world economy. This situation is an expression of the enormous and self-perpetuating difference in economic power between North and South, in turn a reflection of the international division of labour which has condemned the South to specialize in low-value-added, low technology production and exports.