Global Policy Forum

2000

In 2000, the global economic system remained unstable and unjust. In spite of unprecedented wealth, more than half the world's six billion people suffered from deep poverty. While billionaires prospered, poverty increased during the year for tens of millions of people.

Global Policy Forum has been sharply critical of global economic policy, particularly neo-liberal globalization, and we have worked hard to promote discussion about the need for new institutions, democratic policy making and just policy outcomes.

Financing for Development

The United Nations will host a global conference on Financing for Development in 2002, and negotiations are now well under way. In 2000, GPF continued its efforts to promote NGO participation in the conference and we held two international Roundtables to build policy proposals. The first Roundtable, held in New York City on November 8, discussed "Corporate Investments: Towards Accountable Development" A number of speakers from NGOs, the Secretariat and delegations reviewed proposals for corporate accountability -- voluntary codes as well as legal and regulatory approaches. Eighty participants crowded the conference room and the lively discussion made the event a great success. We followed up with a policy paper called: "Making Corporations Accountable" authored by Jim Paul and Jason Garred (published in early 2001).

On December 4, we convened a second joint Roundtable, in Berlin, on "The Future of Overseas Development Assistance." Held at the headquarters of the Bí¶ll Foundation, the conference brought together campaigners and experts from six countries to look at the troubled programs of government and multilateral aid -- how to improve them and how to attract more funding support. A second policy paper will appear on this topic, to be published in the spring of 2001.

Social and Economic Dimensions of Security Policy

Because of our active involvement with the UN Security Council, GPF is keenly interested in the social and economic dimensions of security policy. We are interested in the economic roots of conflict such as poverty, resource scarcity (shortages of water, for example), and struggles over valuable raw materials such as timber, gold, diamonds and col-tan (a valuable substance used in high tech communications and military equipment).

During 2000, we continued our active involvement in the issue of conflict diamonds, which extended beyond Angola as the Council took up related issues in Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Throughout the year we cooperated with NGOs and delegations that sought to enforce these sanctions and we engaged our research into the broader policy issues.

We welcomed the Council's decision to launch an investigation into the plundering of resources in the DRC, an investigation that eventually embraced not only diamonds, but timber, coffee and col-tan as well.

Social and Economic Policy: Issues and Institutions

GPF had a number of research projects and consultations during 2000 on other aspects of social and economic policy, including work on income inequality, the role of transnational corporations, offshore financial centers, the debt-corruption nexus and the policy focus of the Bretton Woods Institutions and the WTO.

During the year, we produced materials on corporate mergers and the trend towards ever-larger concentrations of economic and political power, in manufacturing, services and the financial sector. Corporate mergers and acquisitions have risen to unprecedented levels, including cross-border mergers that alone reached $1.1 trillion in 1999. These mergers have created institutions of immense size and global reach.

Our research into transnational corporations (TNCs) and their influence in the global system resulted in a new comparative study of TNCs and nation states in terms of annual revenue and growth. The world's biggest companies, such as ExxonMobil and DaimlerChrysler, now have annual revenues larger than 182 of the UN's 189 member states.

We also continued our work on the rapidly changing relations between TNCs and the United Nations, changes that we find problematical. A major essay, "The Road to the Global Compact" sets out our views on this issue.

An essay on "Small States and Territories" called attention to the growing reliance of small states on illicit financial institutions and transfers – a problem that fosters financial instability, crime, tax evasion, and other criminal activities like drug sales. Public oversight has not adequately grappled with the problem, mainly due to pressure from powerful financial institutions.

We also looked at the instabilities of financial and currency markets, notably the tendency towards very large trading volume and highly-leveraged speculation. And we followed closely the critical statements made by economist Joseph Stiglitz, former Senior Vice President of the World Bank, about the "Washington Consensus" and the policies of the Bretton Woods Institutions.

An important new section of the web site offers many useful materials on "human development," as distinct from "economic development." GNP growth alone does not expand human welfare and may even shrink it. During the year we published the thoughts of many experts on this and related issues.

Global Policy Forum is supported primarily by contributions from generous individuals who join as members. GPF also receives grants from foundations and partner institutions. GPF is incorporated in the State of New York, registered as a charitable organization and recognized by the US Internal Revenue Service as a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the revenue code.

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