North-South

(Problem of Relations)This term is used to characterize the relations between the industrialized, technologically-developed countries (the North) and the developing countries (the South),, for the most part concentrated in the southern hemisphere. To a certain degree, the concept of “South” also includes the countries of Asia, with the exception of Japan, South Korea and some other Asian countries such as Singapore. Thus, this problem can be interpreted as a problem of relations of injustice, dependency and exploitation between the center and the periphery. The injustice of these relations was recognized by the UN General Assembly in a special resolution in 1974. Since the Paris Conference (1975-1977) and the Cancún Meeting (1981), there has been an ongoing dialogue between the official representatives of both groups of countries. Within the framework of the UN and its specialized institutions, certain mechanisms were created to compensate, albeit minimally, this injustice, and to contribute to the socioeconomic and cultural development of the countries in process of development, allocating no less than one percent of the developed countries’ domestic product for this purpose. But the arms race, local conflicts, and growth in unemployment have blocked the attainment of even this modest objective, not to mention the urgent need to restructure international economic relations, and to eliminate some of its unjust factors that hinder the development of the South.