The Founding of the Group of 77: Between the Status Quo and Rebellion in the International Economy

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the foundation of the so-called Group of 77 following the “Joint Declaration of the seventy-seven developing countries” made at the end of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in 1964. The article looks at the evolution of legal institutions and reviews the Declaration in the light of the Westphalian formula of legal equality, sovereignty and balance of power. In other words, the weighting of these three principles will be the basic interpretative tool to conclude the impacts intended by this coalition of nation states. However, this analysis is complemented by the incorporation of some quantitative data associated with the magnitude of power of the great powers and the members of G-77. The conclusion drawn from this research process, given the empirical evidence on the weight of the 77 countries in the international system around 1964, and their adherence to the order established in the United Nations Charter itself, is that the coalition is trying to modify the status quo in the hope of setting up, by means of declarations, a kind of trap for the rich countries. A trap that would also operate as a moral ultimatum on their expansionist vocation.