REPORTS
Reshaping the international order (RIO)
Jan Tinbergen
In October the third report to the Club of Rome was published under the title
Reshaping the International Order (RIO) .l It was formulated by a group of about
twenty experts from developing as well as developed countries, including one from
Romania. The initiative to undertake this study of the international order was
taken by the Club of Rome Board, especially by its chairman Dr Aurelio Peccei
and the study was financed by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the
initiative of the Minister for Development Cooperation, Jan Pronk. The report
was presented to the Club of Rome in a meeting at Algiers, hosted by the Algerian
Government, 25-28 October 1976.
The nature of this report is rather
different from the preceding reports
to the Club of Rome, in that it is
not based on a sophisticated new
model of the world economy or
society. It is announced as a “contribution
to the dialogue” on a new international
order started by the sixth
and seventh special sessions of the
UN General Assembly which adopted
and reconfirmed resolutions on the
new international economic order and
a plan of actlon to attain that new
order ; another official contribution
to that dialogue having been the
charter of the rights and duties of
states as adopted by the ordinary
session of 1974.
While the documents just mentioned
are political documents the RIO report
is a document prepared by experts
in international cooperation and in
the fields relevant to the international
order (to be mentioned below). While
it cannot be said to be nonpolitical
(which would hardly, if at all, be
possible) the report’s emphasis is rather
on the technical and scientific basis
for an international order whose goal
is to serve the welfare of the present
The author is Professor Emeritus, University
of Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50,
Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
FUTURES December 1976
and future world population, and in
particular the poor.
The report is in four parts. Part 1
deals with “The need for a new
international order and the main
problem areas”; part 2 with “The
architecture of the new international
order ; initiating and steering the
process of planned change”.
Part 3, “Proposals for action”,
contains the main proposals and recommendations
which have emerged
from the working groups on the
ten main areas. Part 4 contains the
working groups’ reports-the basis for
the plenary meetings’ discussions.
Trends and conflicts
In part 1 a survey is given of a number
of recent international developments.
Four among them play an important
part: the widening gap in wellbeing
between developed and developing
countries, the virtual nonexecution
by the developed countries of the
development strategy adopted by the
1970 UN General Assembly, and the
more-recent problems of pollution and
the rise in energy prices.
The main problem areas are identified,
to give the following list: the
armaments race; the population ex554
Reports
plosion; the food shortages; human
settlements and other environmental
problems; the monetary system’s breakdown;
trade and aid systems; the
growing awareness of future scarcities
in the fields of energy and minerals;
the development and transfer of technology;
the transnational enterprises;
the changed situation of the oceans;
and the use of outer space.
It is pointed out that many of these
new developments, whether technological
or social and political, have
made for a considerable increase in
interdependency over the planet as
a whole. Finally the changed attitude
of developing countries as a reaction
to the stagnating policies of the
developed nations is described, from
the OPEC initiative to raise oil
prices to the presentation of the
concepts of a new international economic
order, a plan of action, and
the charter of economic rights and
duties of states.
Universal welfare
Part 2 constitutes a coherent set
of concepts and theses needed to
derive an optimal world order to
attain the goal of maximum welfare
of the world’s population, present
and future. The group defines what
it considers to be the main components
of welfare. They are summarised
as “a life of dignity and wellbeing
for all” and divided into:
Because of interdependence, a reinterpretation
of national sovereignty
is needed. An important general principle
upon which the new international
order has to be based is the principle
of “optimum decisions levels”. For
each of the very large number of
decisions which have currently to be
taken such an optimal level is the one
where external effects are negligiblethe
external effects of a decision being
the effects outside the area for which
the decision makers are responsible.
l equity;
The principle implies that by far
the largest number of decisions can
best be taken at low levels. This
has the additional advantage of allowing
participation in many of the
decision-making processes. Large numbers
of decisions can also be taken
at the national and lower levels;
and thus a sense is given to national
sovereignty in the old meaning.
l the maximum of freedom compatible
with the other components;
l democracy and participation;
l solidarity;
l cultural diversity; and
0 environmental integrity.
To attain maximum welfare an order decision would have clear external
will be needed, called an “equitable effects. National decisions in such
social order”, which many members cases are likely to neglect the interests
of the group consider identical to of citizens in other countries and,
humanistic socialism. The require- by so doing, also neglect the long-term
ments for maximum welfare are sum- interests of the nation itself. The
There are groups of decisions, however,
where the optimal level of
decision making is higher than the
national level. This is the case whenever
the technical nature of the problem
to be solved is such that a national
med up under the headings: the
satisfaction of basic needs of food,
shelter, education, recreation, and participatory
development.
The first priority has to be given
to the eradication of poverty. The
public has an important role to play
in the development process, especially
in order to stimulate self-reliant forces
and to see to it that an equitable
distribution of employment and income
materialises. The roles to be played
by developing countries themselves
as well as by the developed market
economies and centrally planned nations
are discussed. The roles so far
played are summarised.
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Reports 555
problems in this category are typically
the ones which require an international
order, in which the proper institutions
must exist to solve them.
The group thinks that these problems
exist in some ten areas relevant to
the welfare of the world population,
present and future. Working groups
have been formed for each of these
ten “bunches of problems” and their
analysis is given in the ten annexes
constituting part 4. Many of the
existing institutions in the United
Nations already are performing tasks
of the kind mentioned, but an overhaul
is needed to raise both the degree
of participation and the efficiency in
terms of the goals formulated.
The changes needed can onIy be
brought about step by step and require
changes in power structure. The latter
can be furthered by collective selfreliance
(such as the cooperation
between developing countries producing
the same commodities or between
neighbouring countries), and also by
“new coalitions”. These are coalitions
between groups with parallel interests
which have not so far been aware
of this parallelism. One example is
Western consumer unions and developing
countries able to supply
cheap manufactured consumer goods.
They should join in exerting pressure
on Western governments to liberalise
the imports of such goods.
Part 3 contains proposals for action,
subdivided into proposals for the
medium and the long term (before
1985, and between 1985 and 2000).
We will indicate some of them, as
examples, taken from each of the ten
problem areas.
Money
In the monetary field the further
phasing out of gold and key currencies
and their replacement by SDRs is
recommended, together with the development
of enforceable guidelines for
official interventions in exchange markets
and for better adjustment policies.
First steps at the regional level-such
as the EEC-are suggested. Newly to
be created SDRs should be used for
internationally agreed objectives (the
“link” with IDA financing) .a
Interf2ationaZ taxes
In the field of income redistribution
and the financing of development, a
substantial increase in financial transfers
from rich to poor, especially the
poorest, countries (with a per capita
income less than $200) is considered
necessary. More automaticity and more
influence of developing countries in
the transfer mechanism is required;
some forms of international taxes
are mentioned as examples of automatic
financing. The report recommends
that a negotiating forum for
an orderly settlement of past debts
of the poorest nations be set up, and
favour multilateral financing.
Food
In the area of food production the
authors would like to see a scheme
guaranteeing stable food grain prices,
high enough to stimulate marginal
food producers in developing countries.
Further contributions to the Fund
for Long-Term Development of Agriculture
are required. More fertiliser
transfers to and production in developing
countries are considered necessary
; so are measures against waste
of food in rich countries and in transport
and storage in poor countries.
Large-scale projects to improve irrigation
and prevent flood control should
be undertaken and financed from
international sources.
Trade
The industrialisation of developing
countries should be furthered, among
other means, by increased processing
of their national raw materials and
by the expansion of labour-intensive
industries, supported by a reduction
in trade impediments by industrialised
countries. The implementation of an
integrated regulation of unstable markets
as proposed by UNCTAD is
recommended. In matters of trade
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556 Reports
policies, obligatory arbitration will be
necessary.
Resources
In the field of energy and minerals
the formation of producers’ associations
is considered an effective means
to reinforce the power of the weakest
party involved. So is national sovereignty
over a country’s natural
resources. At a later stage, natural
and intellectual resources should be
considered a common heritage of
mankind. Intensification of research
to make nuclear fusion and solar
energy resources available as industrial
processes is urgent and requires international
cooperation and financing,
for instance by a tax on the use of
nuclear fission energy.
Technology
The transfer of technology relevant
to developing countries should be
subsidised by governments of developed
countries. A pool of technological
information should be created
in order to better prepare governments
of developing countries for their negotiations
with transnational enterprises.
High-quality research institutes
must be established and expanded in
the Third world as one of the means
to reduce the brain drain.
Transnationals
On transnational enterprises a minimum
of relevant information has to
be collected, such as capital used to
employ one person, the use made
of local capital, the nature of the
products made, etc. These enterprises
should comply with the priorities set
in the host country’s development
plan. They should also investigate
alternative ways to cooperate with
local enterprises and authorities. A
code of conduct of transnational enterprises
with legally enforceable elements
is recommended.
Ecologv
The ecological dangers involved in
further expansion of world production
should be reduced by an intensive
search for recycling wastes and by
an adaptation of lifestyles. Global
resource management should be the
directive at national and higher levels.
Armaments
Arms reduction is to be furthered by
political and moral pressure on the
superpowers, eg a treaty on a comprehensive
nuclear test ban and a convention
banning chemical weapons.
The arms trade urgently needs regulation.
The oceans
In order to arrive at a management
of the oceans in the interest of mankind
a functional confederation of international
organisations responsible for
different aspects of the use of the
oceans is needed, including the proposed
international seabed authority.
In addition, integrative machinery is
needed in order to coordinate tasks,
and to ensure the equitable sharing of
the benefits derived from the exploitation
of international ocean space.
Parts 3 and 4
Part 3 provides examples of packages
for comprehensive negotiation of the
seventy-five proposals, concentrating on
l removing gross inequities in the
distribution of world income and
economic opportunities;
l a more harmonious growth of the
global economic system;
l the beginnings of a global (indicative)
planning system.
Part 4 consists of the working-group
reports.
References
1. Reshaping the International Order (New
York, Dutton, 1976; Amsterdam, Elsevier
[in Dutch]). French (Editions du
Seuil) and German (West Deutscher
Verlag) editions are in preparation.
2. The International Development Agency,
linked to the World Bank, specialises in
soft loans to developing countries.
FUTURES December 1976
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