What can the history of the New International Economic Order (NIEO) tell us about the possibilities - and limits - of transforming the international economic system?

In this fifth episode of the Vienna Global Forum podcast series, Umut Özsu, professor of law and legal studies at Carleton University, joins the conversation to explore the relationship between international law, decolonization, state sovereignty, and the struggle to reshape the global economic order.

The NIEO emerged in the 1960s and 1970s as developing countries sought to challenge the economic structures inherited from colonialism and to establish a more equitable international economic system. International law became an important arena in this struggle: a space in which newly independent states sought to assert their sovereignty, demand greater control over natural resources, and push for changes to the rules governing the global economy.

But how transformative was the NIEO really? And why did it ultimately fail to bring about the changes its proponents envisioned?

In the conversation, Umut Özsu examines both the internal tensions within the NIEO project and the external opposition it encountered. He discusses the role of the United States and other advanced capitalist countries, the relationship between economic sovereignty and international cooperation, and the limits of relying on international institutions to transform the world economy.

The discussion raises some fundamental questions:

🔹Was the NIEO really as radical as it is sometimes portrayed?
🔹Why did powerful states see the NIEO as a threat?
🔹What role can international law play in transforming the global economy?
🔹How did decolonization shape the struggle for a new international economic order?
🔹Can international institutions such as the United Nations fundamentally change global economic structures?
🔹What tensions existed between national sovereignty and international solidarity?
🔹And what, if anything, can today's movements learn from the NIEO?

Guest: Umut Özsu - Professor of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University

📍Episode 5 of the Vienna Global Forum podcast series: Lessons from the New International Economic Order

📌 Learn more about the Vienna Global Forum: www.viennaglobalforum.org