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The UN and the Bretton Woods Institutions The UN and the Bretton Woods Institutions New Challenges for the Twenty-First Century Edited by Mahbub ul Haq Special Adviser to UNDP Administrator New York Richard Jolly Deputy Executive Director UNICEF Paul Streeten Emeritus Professor Boston University and Khadija Haq Executive Director North South Roundtable New York Contents Preface List of Abbreviations Conference Participants and Contributors Part 1 Overview Part II The Bretton Woods System I An Historical Perspective H. W Singer 2 The Vision and the Reality Mahhub ul Hag 3 A Changing Institution in a Changing World Alexander Shakoes 4 The Keynesian Vision and the Developing Countries La! Jayawardena 5 An African Perspective on Bretton Woods Adebayo Adedeji A West European Perspective on Bretton Woods Andrea Boltho Part III Reforms in the UN and the BreROn Woods Institutions 7 A Comparative Assessment Catherine Gwin 8 A Blueprint for Reform Paul Streeten A New International Monetary System for the Futu Carlos Massad 10 On the Modalities of Macroeconomic Policy Coordination John Williamson Part IV Priorities for the Twenty-first Century I I Gender Priorities for the Twenty-first Century Khadija Haq 12 Biases in Global Markets: Can the Forces of Inequity and Marginalization be Modified? Frances Stewart 13 Poverty Eradication and Human Development: Issues for the Twenty-first Century Richard folly 14 Role of the Multilateral Agencies after the Earth Summit Maurice Williams 15 New Challenges for Regulation of Global Financial Markets Stephany Griffith-Jones 16 A New Framework for Development Cooperation Mahbub ul Hay Preface With the end of the cold war, the United Nations is experiencing a new lease on life. In political and peace-keeping matters, it has often been thrust to centre-stage. However, in economic and social development, the United Nations continues much as before, with most of the finance and much of the action concentrated on the Bretton Woods institutions. This book explores why this is unsatisfactory and how it can be changed. It presents the papers and conclusions prepared for and reviewed by two meetings of the North-South Roundtable of the Society for International Development, in April and September 1993, on the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the conference in Bretton Woods which laid the basis for the institutions which bear that name. Earlier meetings of the North-South Roundfahle had considered measures to strengthen the United Nations for the 1990s. Other reports, notably the series of reports under the Nordic Project, reviewed changes of policy and actions needed to reform the United Nations. But most of these took only marginal account of the Bretton Woods institutions, and discussions of the need for reforms of the Bretton Woods institutions have so far concentrated on measures to improve internal effectiveness with no fundamental questioning of their basic objectives and roles in relation to the world economy of the next century. The papers in this volume consider reform of global economic governance from a perspective given by four concerns: An integral view of the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions taken together; A priority for human development, including gender awareness, not just economic and financial concerns; A long-term perspective, looking to global issues of the twenty-first century, not merely problems of the 1990s; Perspectives given by needs and concerns in the South as well as the North, taking account also of regional perspectives in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Forty-five eminent personalities from different backgrounds, nationalities and expertise participated in the discussions of these papers organized by the North-South Roundtable meeting in Breflon Woods. The participants are listed on pp. x-xi. About half have worked in the United Nations at different times and about one-quarter in the Bretton Woods institutions. Nine have served as ministers in their own countries and most have at one time or another been members or advisers of governments and the international agencies. Thus, although most had reputations as academics or analysts, the wealth of practical experience was also considerable. Part I of the volume presents an overview of the main themes and conclusions of the discussion. This summary has been prepared by a small team consisting of Mahbub ul Haq, Khadija Haq, altheBretton Woods Richard Jolly and was published as a summary report t" meeting. Part 11 analyses the Bretton Woods system in the light of the original vision of the founders. Two regional perspectives, African and West European, are also presented here. Part IH offers some proposals for reform. Part IV sets out the priority areas for global governance for the next century. The fiftieth anniversary of the Bretton Woods institutions took place to 1994; the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations will take place in 1995. Both events mark the need for fundamental rethinking of these institutions in relation to the needs and challenges of the final part of the twentieth century and the opening years of the next. It is hoped that this book will provide a stimulus and challenge to the new thinking and perspectives required for this task. Mahbub ul Haq, Richard Jolly, New York March 1994 Paul Streeten and Khadija Haq List of Abbreviations ASEAN Association of South-East Asian Nations ECA Economic Commission for Africa ECOSOC Economic and Social Council of the UN FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GNP Gross national product IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development IDA International Development Association IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development ILO International Labour Organisation IMP International Monetary Fund INSTRAW United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women LPA Lagos Plan of Action NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement NGO Non-governmental organisation OAU Organisation for African Unity OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development OPEC Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SAP Structural Adjustment Programmes SDR Special drawing rights of IMP UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund UMFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women WHO World Health Organisation Conference Participants and Contributors All participants attended in their personal capacities. Participants' affiliations given here are those at the time of the meeting and not necessarily their present affiliations. An asterisk (`) before a name indicates a contributor to this volume. !small Sabri Abdalla, Chairman, Third World Forum, Cairo Jim Adams, Director, Operations Policy, The World Bank, Washington, DC 'Adebayo Adedeji, Former Executive Director of ECA, Nigeria Lourdes Arizpe, Director, Institute of Anthropological Research, Mexico Princess Basma, Q.A. Jordan Social Welfare Fund, Jordan 'Andrea Boltho, Fellow, Magdalen College, Oxford University, UK Margaret Cat! ey-Car! son, President, Population Council, New York James P. Grant, Executive Director, UNICEF, New York 'Stephany Griffith-Jones, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, UK 'Catherine Gwin, Vice-President, Overseas Development Council, Washington, DC Peter Hansen, Secretary-General, Commission on Global Governance, Geneva 'Khadija Haq, Executive Director, North-South Roundtable, New York "Mahbub u! Haq, Special Adviser to the Administrator, UNDP, New York Gerry Helleiner, Professor of Economics, University of Toronto, Canada Eve/inc Herfhens, Executive Director of the World Bank, Washington, DC Byokichi Hirono, Faculty of Economics, Seikei University, Japan Enrique Iglesior, President, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC (Represented by Nora Marulanda, Senior Advisor, Inter-American Development Bank) Shafiqu! Islam, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, New York '1241 Jayawardeno, Former Director of WIDER, Sri Lanka Richard Jolly, Chairman, North-South Roundtable, UNICEF, New York Alexander Lave, Chairman, DAC. Paris Carlos Massad, Deputy Executive Secretary of ECLAC Soliw Monsod, Professor of Economics, University of the Philippines, Quezon City Philip Ndegwa, Chairman First Chartered Securities Ltd, Nairobi /. G. Pate!, Former Director, London School of Economics, India Jan Pronk, Minister for Development Cooperation, The Netherlands Shridath Ramphal, Co- Chairman, United Nations Commission on Global Governance, Geneva Gustav Ranis, Professor of Economics, Yale University, New Haven Naffs Sadik, Executive Director, UNFPA, New York Horst Schulmann. President, Landeszentral Bank, Frankfurt, Germany 'Alexander Shakoes, Director, External Relations, The World Bank, Washington, DC Alexander Shokhin, Vice Prime Minister. Russia (Represented by Edward Kudryavtsev, Deputy Permanent Representative, Russian Mission to the United Nations) 'H. W. Singer, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, England Anoop Singh, Senior Advisor, Policy Development and Review Department. IMP, Washington, DC Joel Spiro, Director, Office of Technical Specialised Agencies, US Department of State, Washington, Dc 'Frances Stewart, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Oxford, UK Paul Sweeten, Consultant, UNDP Human Development Report 'Maurice Williams. President,
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