6 - Social and Cultural Issues of the New International Economic Order

Abstract

This chapter discusses the social and cultural issues of the New International Economic Order (NIEO). The cultural and social issues involved in the establishment of the NIEO are multiple and complex. The increasing imbalances in the distribution of incomes, wealth, and control over world resources between the developed and developing countries has become an issue of major importance in the international arena. Strategies for change in the existing market structures could include the elimination of a negative balance of payments by the raising and stabilization of prices for Third World commodities. The Integrated Programme for Commodities (IPC), a much needed safety mechanism to prevent extreme fluctuations in the price of raw materials, produced in the main by developing countries, is undoubtedly essential to the implementation of NIEO. The potential performance of the IPC should be further strengthened in favor of the developing countries by a system of indexing that would assure an equitable relationship between the prices of their imports and exports by tying Third World exports to the price of the manufactured goods and capital exports of developed countries. Social and economic development cannot be successful without the participation of women. All elements of society must be involved in the choice of science and technology for development.