The Lomé Convention and The International Law of Development: A Concretisation of The New International Economic Order?

Abstract

At the beginning of the 1980s the North–South dialogue seems to have lost much of its momentum. The prevalent feeling is characterised by frustration about the dialogue's practical achievements, by growing cynicism as to its possibilities and by little hope in regard to new initiatives. The reasons for this view are manifold: the failure of major international conferences, the set-back in the negotiations on new international instruments, the standstill at the global level because of the hesitation of some countries, in particular the United States, which is reconsidering its development policy, and the deterioration of the social and economic situation in most developing countries. Given the growing economic difficulties in many industrialised states, the international climate for the necessary restructuring of the international economic order seems to have gradually worsened. This situation led the Brandt Commission to include in its report a proposal for a North–South summit conference of a limited number of heads of states or governments so as to create a new political impetus. This proposal materialised in the summit conference at Cancun, Mexico, convened by the Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky and the Mexican President Lopes Portillo. One of the hoped-for results of the Cancun summit was to reach consensus on the opening of a “global round of negotiations”, which would provide the framework for a comprehensive effort within the United Nations towards a New International Economic Order (N.I.E.O.).