Taking the post-war revolt against free trade orthodoxy by UN economists as their point of departure, the authors assess the UN's creative intellectual contributions to the trade, finance, and development debate. Presenting a fascinating account of the main UN actors in this debate, The UN and Global Political Economy focuses on the accomplishments and struggles of key thinkers and explores the role played by UN agencies such as DESA and ECLAC, whose ideas influenced the birth of UNCTAD in the 1960s and the campaign for a New International Economic Order in the 1970s. The concluding chapters look closely at the effects of the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s and the growing strength of the WTO in the 1990s, and consider the lessons to be drawn from these and other recent developments. Book jacket.