ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates whether the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)–as members of the Third World –have succeeded in advancing principal Third World objectives, including those concerning the reform of the international economic system, cryst-alised in the call for a New International Economic Order (NIEO). Following the events of 1973, early statements by OPEC countries emphasised the themes of OPEC-Third World solidarity and of the community of interests between them. These statements created expectations that the OPEC countries, together with the rest of the Third World, would press for significant structural reforms in the international economic system. Among reasons for OPEC’s failure to contribute effectively to the establishment of an NIEO have been its own internal divisions and institutional limitations. In the former category, divisions among OPEC countries have reflected differences among them in terms of resource bases–including oil reserves–developmental needs, political and ideological orientations, ethnic origins, and national rivalries and aspirations.
