Introduction

On 30 September 1961, the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) came into force giving birth to what is now a 38 member “forum in which governments work together to seek solutions to common problems, share experiences, and identify best practices to promote policies for better lives.” ¹ Despite its unprepossessing temperament, the fingerprints of the OECD and its forerunner, the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), are etched on many defining moments of postwar economic history including the administration of the Marshall Plan (1948–51), the resolution of the oil crises (1973), the completion of the Uruguay Round trade negotiations (1986–94), the genesis of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the response to the Global Financial Crisis (2008). From the definition of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the principle that the polluter pays to standards for national income accounting and guidelines governing the collection of personal data, these organizations have also been a crucible in which a medley of ideas, discourses, concepts, practices, and rules that underpin global governance crystallized.