The Economic Work of the United Nations
Strange, Susan. “The Economic Work of the United Nations.” In Year Book of World Affairs 1956, edited by George W. Keeton, Georg Schwarzenberger, 118-140. London: Stevens, 1954.
Strange argues that governments have increased power over domestic economic forces, and feel that this power is necessary and desirable. The UN has generated and publicised debates surrounding economic development, and led indirectly to ‘point four programme’ financial aid. But the US has in practice been given a paternal right to define and prioritise the economic goals of the UN, and set the agenda of acceptable economic policies. Strange suggests that freedom of trade in the dollar area is seen as much more important to the creation of world free trade than relations between other trading states. She argues that the UN has failed in its over-optimistic aims because the responsibility for economic stability and progress was assumed by its members to take precedence over a wider responsibility for international economic progress and stability.
Keywords: Hegemony; Money and Finance; United States; Economic Development; United Nations