Foreign Assistance and the New International Economic Order

Foreign assistance has been an integral part of the existing international economic order. It was the major link sustaining a tenuous relationship between the dominant economic forces moving towards an unprecedented affluence and the large periphery of poverty-ridden economies of the developing world. It served the function which private or public charity performs in traditional societies. It tended to delay the demand for ensuring a fair and dignified share to the developing countries in the material gains of human progress. The progress of mankind in harnessing world's natural resources and in the applica¬tion of science to productive processes has so far benefited a small part of the world population though it has a great potential for increasing prosperity on a global scale. International community has not yet acquired a global perspec¬tive in determining its strategy for dealing with economic issues