ABSTRACT
This chapter charts the OECD story from 1948 to 1984, teasing out the factors that compelled the organization's creation, drove its evolution, and impinged upon its role and performance in global governance. The narrative commences by examining the origin and record of the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) and the circumstances compelling its metamorphosis into the OECD. Thereafter, the chapter outlines and evaluates the OECD's bearing on, and place in, the architecture of global governance during the tenure of its first two Secretary-Generals, Thorkil Kristensen and Emile van Lennep.
