The global rise of the right led to profound transformations in
development diplomacy. The UN, in particular, lost ground throughout
the 1980s and 1990s, at the expense of the Bretton Woods insti-
tutions, which became central in the management of relations between
rich and poor countries. The declining influence of the UN – previously
the North–South forumpar excellence– was not simply a by-product
of a change in priorities. It came following a forceful conservative
campaign, led by Washington and London, against the organization
and its mission.^67
Among the charges leveled at the UN, the most fundamental denied
its legal authority to reform international trade and finance, on the
grounds that these questions were under the jurisdictions of the
GATT, the IMF, and the World Bank. In addition, the UN’s under-
standing of economic processes was presented as basically wrong. The
organization was notably reproached for promoting “a socialist path
to development,” and for displaying little concern for freedom and
individual rights.^68 Pointing to the numerous votes where countries of
the North had found themselves isolated because of the “automatic
majority” of the South, conservative politicians also denounced the
anti-Western bias of the UN, a prejudice that was in their view all
the more objectionable since the organization was funded primarily by
the governments of developed nations. The right also indicted the
UN for suffering from the same bureaucratic problems that afflicted
public institutions worldwide.
The anti-UN crusade was spearheaded by the United States. The
American government resisted the temptation to leave the organiza-
tion outright, as some on the right would have liked, but it deployed
a wide range of intimidation tactics. Two decisions in this long
wrestling match were especially significant. First, in 1984, the United
States withdrew from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to protest against the politicization
(^67) Craig N. Murphy,International Organization and Industrial Change:
Global Governance since 1850, New York, Oxford University Press, 1994,
pp. 258–59; and Jacques Fomerand,Mirror, Tool, or Linchpin for Change?
The UN and Development, Waterloo, Academic Council on the United Nations
System, 2003, p. 42.
(^68) Joshua Muravchik,The Future of the United Nations: Understanding the Past
to Chart a Way Forward, Washington, American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research, 2005, p. 71.
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