Globalization, Multi-lateralism and the Islamic World

Islamic Countries and the Reform of Global Multi-lateral Institutions

Despite the role changes of the UN, Islamic countries were keen to retain this institution as a forum for Third World countries and to reform it so as to serve their needs. Islamic countries felt that that the USA was out to marginalize the UN and increasingly replace it with NATO. Most of the proposals of Islamic countries to reform the UN centered around the notion of democratizing it by limiting the veto power of the permanent members, expanding the Security Council membership to include a representation of the OIC states, and providing for mechanisms to implement the UN resolutions (15).

Although most Islamic countries have joined the WTO, they have made significant efforts to reform it in the direction of taking into consideration their development needs. The WTO focuses mainly on the question global trade liberalization; that is, opening the markets of developing countries to the industries of developed ones. This will lead to the destruction of industries in developing countries, tremendous loss of jobs, and increases in the prices of pharmaceutical products. Islamic countries have joined, along with other developing countries, to decelerate the pace of trade globalization, and shift the focus of the global debate from trade liberation into technology development and transfer (16).

In this area, the achievements of Islamic countries have been quite limited given the strength of "uni-polar moment" the world is going through. However, Islamic countries have succeeded in keeping the issue of the reform of global multi-lateral institutions on the agenda.

• The Conceptual Framework
• The Organization of the Islamic Conference and Globalization
• Neo-regional Enterprises of the Islamic World: The Developing-8
• Multi-lateral Non-governmental Institutions of the Islamic World
• Islamic Countries and non-Islamic Neo-regional Institutions
• Islamic Countries and the Reform of Global Multi-lateral Institutions
• An Assessment of the Multi-lateral Responses of the Islamic World to Globalization
• Endnotes

Professor of Political Science, Egypt