ABSTRACT
On 16 September 1975, the Seventh Special Session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for new initiatives on a broad range of development issues. From a longer-range perspective, the interesting question is whether the Seventh Special Session can be said to mark the beginnings of a new phase of relations between developed and developing states. The United States refused to participate in the preparations for the Sixth Special Session. The shift from “confrontation” to “conciliation” must be seen rather as a tactical shift that stemmed from perceptions of the limitations of continued confrontational politics. In answer to the question of whether a significant new phase in North-South relations has yet begun, the observations suggest that what occurred was conciliation without reconciliation of the basic issues and the fundamental principles at stake. Trade reforms are urged, but actions needed to make the definition of a new international division of labor real are slow in coming.
