not been experienced since the 1920s.^54 Even though the case of the
USA may be an extreme one, income disparities are growing pretty
much throughout the developed world and relative poverty is on the
rise. It is currently estimated that over 10 percent of the OECD
population – that is, more than 100 million individuals – has a dis-
posable income that is less than half of the national median.^55
While the prevailing neoliberal discourse declares trade to be the
best way to speed up economic growth, the benefits of the recent
market expansion are still very badly distributed. First, international
trade flows continue to be largely dominated by the developed coun-
tries, whose share of merchandise exports in 2002 was 63.5 percent,
almost unchanged in relation to 1960 (64.7 percent).^56 Second, the
growth of trade in the Third World is highly concentrated: twelve
countries – essentially from Asia and Latin America – account for
75 percent of the manufactured goods exported from the South.^57
Africa, on the other hand, has been pushed further and further to the
margins, outside the trade circuits of globalization. Forever dependent
on the export of primary products, African countries saw their share
of world exports shrink from 6 to 2 percent between 1998 and 2002.^58
Despite the considerable efforts made by poor countries to liberalize
their economies over the past twenty years, the rules of international
trade continue to be strongly biased in favour of the rich countries.
The annual cost of the protectionism practiced by the developed
countriesvis-a`-visthe developing countries is estimated to be roughly
$150 billion.^59 A number of obstacles – high tariffs, quotas, subsidies,
environmental, and health standards – continually restrict exports
from the South to the North. It is well known, for example, that the
(^54) Ibid., p. 42, paragraph 198.
(^55) Michael Fo ̈rster and Marco Mira d’Ercole, “Tackling Poverty,”OECD
Observer, no. 248, March 2005, p. 21 (www.oecdobserver.org/news/fullstory.
php/aid/1586/tackling_poverty.html). See also UNDP,Human Development
56 Report 1997, p. 24.
57 UNCTAD,Development and Globalization, p. 49.
World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization,A Fair
58 Globalization, p. 26, Figure 3.
UNCTAD,Economic Development in Africa: Trade Performance and
Commodity Dependence, New York and Geneva, United Nations, UNCTAD,
2003, p. 1.
(^59) Supachai Panitchpakdi, “The Doha Development Agenda: Challenges and
Opportunities for the Arab World,” address by the Director-General of the
WTO, Geneva, September 9, 2002, p. 1.
72 Left and Right in Global Politics