This book explores the history of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and its place within capitalist development. Since 1948, the OECD and its forerunner, the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) worked on almost every subject of interest to national governments ranging from economic growth to education (PISA rankings), statistics, to the environment. With varying success the OEEC/OECD thus played a key role as a warden of the West and of capitalist development. However, it has remained one of the least understood international organizations. Bringing together a number of case studies by scholars from around the world, this first source-based volume on the history of the OEEC/OECD in global governance offers not only a new understanding of the Organization’s key areas of activities, but also its multiple relations to member states, other international organizations, and private networks. The volume thus critically re-examines postwar international history, most importantly decolonization and the Cold War, through the prism of one international organization in its various contexts.

This publication reviews the major turning points in the history of economic integration, and in particular the pace at which it has accelerated since the 1990s. It also considers its impact in four crucial areas, namely employment, development, the environment and financial stability.

Celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2021, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is routinely heralded as one of the leading organs of global governance, yet it remains one of the least written about and least well understood of our major global institutions. This fully revised and updated second edition builds a well-rounded understanding of this crucial, though often neglected, institution. A range of clearly written chapters chart the origins and evolution of the organization, comprehend its influence, examine its current agenda, and evaluate its future prospects. Rather than the simplified characterizations of the OECD as a “rich-country’s club” or “think tank,” this book suggests that truly understanding the OECD and its significance to global governance requires it to be conceived as the entity it truly is: an international organization. New to this edition: Outlines the OECD’s origins and evolution, bringing its story fully up to date Considers the ‘OECD way’ of working, including the peer review process Examines competing views of the OECD’s influence over global governance Evaluates the OECD reform and the organization’s future prospects This concise introduction continues to be vital reading for all students of international relations, politics and world history and affairs.

Marx predicted in Capital (1867) that as capitalism became global, patterns of work would be transformed, and workers would need to develop versatility, flexibility, and mobility. This 'general law of social production', as he called it, is now in evidence all around us, in global value chains, 'zero hours' contracts, and contract work organised through digital platforms. It results from competition between capitalists, scientific and technological revolutions in production, and incessant advances in the division of labour as production processes are broken down into ever smaller steps. This book documents the leading roles of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Washington-based World Bank as advocates of these developments. They do not, as generally supposed, simply represent the interests of the advanced economies or the 'West' and their transnational corporations. They promote a single global model of capitalist development, without limits and on a genuinely global scale. It calls upon all states to 'adjust' continually to the structural and social demands of competitiveness, which they see as essential to the global hegemony of capital over labour. The OECD and the World Bank propose policies that give girls and women equal access to education and paid work, reform welfare to 'make work pay', introduce flexible labour contracts that make 'hiring and firing' easier, focus education on skills that boost employability, and draw workers in the developing world from the 'informal' sector into the formal sector, where they can be more productive. This is the politics of global competitiveness.

This comprehensive Companion analyses the relevance of the OECD as a transnational policy maker, idea broker and standard setter. Bringing together diverse disciplines and methodologies, it establishes the influence of the OECD on modern understandings of governance.

This edited volume focuses on the historical role of the OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in shaping global education policy. In this book, contributors shed light on the present-day perspective of Comparative Education as a logical addition to current scholarship on the history of international organizations in the field of education. Doing so, the book provides a deeper understanding of contemporary developments in education that will enable us to reflect critically on the trajectories and future developments of education worldwide.

The book reveals, for the first time, the origins, growth and complex role of the OECD as it celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, showing how it has adapted for the most part successfully to the changing needs of its members, both large and small. Peter Carroll and Aynsley Kellow provide a comprehensive account and analysis of the origins, development and, most intriguingly, the recent reforms that characterise the OECD. They argue that this increasingly complex organisation has fulfilled its design to be an adaptive, learning organisation and explore how the OECD has spread its wings beyond its European and North American roots to become an increasingly influential body in global governance. Topical chapters include the OECD s work on health and the environment, relations with international, intergovernmental organisations, the OECD s structure and also the key processes. This fascinating book will be warmly welcomed by academics, researchers and postgraduate students in a wide range of fields including international relations, international business, political science, public policy and public administration. Public servants in national departments and agencies particularly those with significant international activities will also find the book to be of great interest, as will professionals within international organisations such as IMF, World Bank, EU, UN and (of course) the OECD itself.

Formed in 1947, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) was the first postwar international organization dedicated to economic cooperation in Europe. Linking the universalism of the UN to European regionalism, both Cold War superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, were founding members of the UNECE. Building on the League of Nations' difficult heritage, and in an increasingly challenging political environment, the UNECE's mission was to facilitate European cooperation transcending the boundaries set by the Cold War . With a number of competitor organizations set against it, the UNECE managed to carve out a niche for itself, setting norms and standards that still have an impact on the everyday lives of millions in Europe and beyond today. Working against an overwhelming geopolitical trend, UNECE succeeded in bridging the Cold War divide on several occasions, and maintained a broad system of contacts across the Iron Curtain. This book provides a unique study of this important but hitherto under-researched international organization. Incorporating research on the Cold War, the history of internationalism and European integration, Stinsky weaves these different threads of historical enquiry into a single analytical narrative.

In modern society, economic growth is considered to be the primary goal pursued through policymaking. But when and how did this perception become widely adopted among social scientists, politicians and the general public? Focusing on the OECD, one of the least understood international organisations, Schmelzer offers the first transnational study to chart the history of growth discourses. He reveals how the pursuit of GDP growth emerged as a societal goal and the ways in which the methods employed to measure, model and prescribe growth resulted in statistical standards, international policy frameworks and widely accepted norms. Setting his analysis within the context of capitalist development, post-war reconstruction, the Cold War, decolonization, and industrial crisis, The Hegemony of Growth sheds new light on the continuous reshaping of the growth paradigm up to the neoliberal age and adds historical depth to current debates on climate change, inequality and the limits to growth.

This book explores the changing face of development assistance. China's One Belt, One Road development program is the largest international investment scheme in history, surpassing the Marshall Plan by an order of magnitude. In 2017, a group of top scholars from Fudan, the London School of Economics, and other institutions like the Institute of Development Studies, Australian National University, and World Bank gathered to share findings and ideas about the nature of New Development Assistance. A compilation of their findings, this book will be of interest to NGOs, policymakers, and academics.