Social Justice in an Open World: The Role of the United Nations
economic and financial forces. lnternational cooperation should help developing countries achieve this degree of political freedom and autonomy in decision-making vis-a-vis the process of globalization. Such autonomy might be considered a condition for social development. Discussions relating to the present thematic focus prompted the following questions: Capacity-building is one of the main objectives of the United Nations in its operational activities. What can be said of this approach in relation to social development in the context of an increasingly globalized world economy? It is routinely asserted that developing countries have the primary responsibility for their own development, but it is also generally recognized that the current process of globalization is reducing the margin of manoeuvre for most Governments. Does international cooperation help address this apparent contradiction ?
lnternational cooperation through international organizations (and even within the framework of bilateral agreements)is characterized by significant normative content idea/ly derived from the moral principles and values embodied in the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; these norms and their underlying values and principles guide perspectives and decisions relating to, for example, the definition and reduction of poverty, the definition of good governance, and the role of market mechanisms in society. How might the participation of developing countries in the elaboration and implementation of this normative corpus be enhanced?
Theme 3: In what areas could international cooperation be strengthened and expanded to contribute most effectively to the social development of developing countries and the overall betterment of the human condition? The concepts underlying international cooperation and the modalities of its implementation are inevitably affected by ideological and political developments at the world level. During the past few years, international debates and blueprints for action have focused on open markets and good governance as the most crucial elements for achieving prosperity in developing countries and in the world as a whole. Governments of developing countries are called upon to remove obstacles to the free movement of goods, services and capital, and to create internal political conditions that reflect certain democratic norms and encourage national and foreign investment. lnternational cooperation tends to incorporate the dissemination of these ideas and related strategies, though there is a tendency to rely on stop-gap measures rather than more permanent mechanisms in addressing the human suffer-