Economic Development And Un Reform Towards a Common Agenda for Action-a Proposal in the Context of the Millennium Development Goals: Towards a Common Agenda ... Context of the Millennium Development Goals

192 Pages·2005·16.85 MB·English

by  Carlos A. Magarinos

E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T
AND UN R E F O R M
TOWARDS A COMMON AGENDA FOR ACTION
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E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T
A N D U N R E F O R M
TOWARDS A COMMON AGENDA FOR ACTION
A PROPOSAL I N THE CONTEXT OF
THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
by Carlos A , Magarit7os
U N ITED N AT I 0 N S I N D U ST R I AL D EVEL 0 P M ENT 0 R G AN I2 AT I 0 N
Vienna, 2005
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of
the Secretariat of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. The description and classifi-
cation of countries and territories used, and the arrangements of the material, do not imply the expression
of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat concerning the legal status of any country, terri-
tory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or
regarding its economic system or degree of development. Designations such as “developed”, “industrial-
ized” and “developing”a re intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgment
about the state reached by a particular country or area in the development process. Mention of firm names
and commercial products does not imply the endorsement of the United Nations Industrial Development
Organization.
UNIDO Publication
Sales No.: E.05.Il.BZ4
ISBN 92-1- 106431- 7
Copyright 0 2005 by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
First published January 2005
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism
and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
ir transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book and the proposal contained in it are intended to pay homage to the
many lives risked and lost and the generous energies invested by those men
and women who still believe - in spite of the injustice and oppression that
prevails in many quarters - that a better world is possible and that we all
have a role to play in building it, to achieve the ideals of freedom, equity,
peace and development for the generations to come.
On a more personal note I would like to dedicate this work to my wife Bele'n,
who supports me, and gives me the strength to continue believing and
dedicating my best thoughts to those ideals while, at the same time, allowing
me to recall the extraordinary importance of the simple miracle of every
day life. Finally, my gratitude goes to the newcomer, Tomas, for bringing
a new perspective to my life and my work.
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CONTENTS
Acronyms 10
Acknowledgements 13
Introduction by Carlos A. Magariiios 15
PART I 19
A PROPOSAL TO REINVIGORATE THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
FUNCTIONS OF THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM IN THE
CONTEXT OF THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
1 Towards a business plan for joint action 21
Introduction 21
Diagnosis: dispersal and dilution 23
The challenge of coordination 24
Setting up a common agenda for action 27
Suggested menu of topics 29
1 Market efficiency and integration 29
2 Knowledge 33
3 Environment 34
4 Benchmarking and monitoring economic performance 34
The agenda at work 36
Conclusions 38
2 The UN in a changing global landscape 39
Emergence of a bipolar world 40
Decolonization 40
The oil crises of the 1970s 41
End of the Cold War and accelerating globalization 42
Global terrorism 43
Globalization and the role of the UN 44
The Private Sector 46
Civil Society Organizations 46
The UN’S role: normative vs operational 48
Evolution of the UN’sn ormative functions 48
Evolution of the UN’s operational functions 50
Conclusions 51
8 / CONTENTS
3 Reviewing UN reform proposals 53
The new focus on development (late 1960s and 1970s) 54
The Jackson study (1969) 54
The Gardner report (1975) 55
Improving efficiency and seeking financial reform ( 1980s) 56
The Heritage Foundation (1984) 56
The Bertrand report (1985) 57
Financial crises (1980s) 58
The Group of 18 (1986) 58
The Brundtland Commission: sustainable development ( 1987) 59
Reassessment of the UN’s role (1990s) 60
The South Commission: poverty & human needs 60
The Nordic Project (1991) 62
Boutros-Ghali’s agenda ( 1992) 63
The Commission on Global Governance (1994) 64
The Childers-Urquhart proposals ( 1995) 65
The Independent Working Group (1995) 66
The South Center (1996) 66
Nordic Project I1 and the European Union proposals (1997) 67
Moves towards programmatic reform 68
The Annan proposals (1997-2002) 68
+
The Utstein Group Denmark, Sweden & Switzerland (2004) 72
Conclusions 74
4 Programmatic arguments 78
Interaction with social & humanitarian programmes 79
Contributions to post-conflict interventions 84
Distinguishing between crises 86
Understanding timing and type of assistance required 87
A new focus for the UN’se conomic development functions 89
Interaction with the Bretton Woods Institutions 91
Conclusions 94
5 lnsights from the evolution of thinking and practice
in development economics 95
The evolution of thinking about economic growth 96
Lessons from the successful catching-up processes 98
Implications for the multilateral system 102
Conclusions 104
CONTENTS / 9
PART II 105
REFORM AT WORK: THE CASE OF THE UNITED NATIONS
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION
6 UNIDO: from conception through crisis to survival
and the Business Plan 107
Industrial development, the UN and UNIDO 1956-1985 107
UNIDO as a specialized Agency 1986-1992 110
Beginning of reforms and the looming crisis: 1993-1997 113
The motives behind the 1997 crisis 115
The Member States respond 118
The vital importance of the Danish assessment 124
Conclusions 125
7 Achieving stability: 1998-2000 127
The principles followed 128
Addressing the immediate challenges 129
Financial, administrative and management measures 130
Closeness to clients 133
Transformation of programmatic areas 135
Addressing UNIDO’dSu al role 137
Improving System-wide cooperation 138
Difficulties encountered 138
Conclusions 140
8 Revitalization and the way ahead 142
Revitalization (2 002-2004) 143
Management 151
Administrative and financial 158
Closeness to clients 160
Lessons of UNIDO’S transformation process 162
Independent confirmation of transformation 169
Independent assessment by a major donor 171
Conclusions 173
ANNEXES 175
1 Business plan on the future role and functions of UNIDO 176
2 The business plan as key players saw it 180
Author and subject index 187