Discussion

Following recent developments in the field of global socialism, this paper will zoom in on East-South connections beyond the COMECON sphere – by focusing on exchanges within the Non-Aligned Movement. It will focus on the 1970s as a decade where the initial ideas for building collective self-reliance and economic de-colonization morphed into a more complex agenda: countering North-South development imbalances through the establishment of the New International Economic Order. This project proceeded alongside two lines: first, through the establishment of multilateral institutions for technical cooperation; second, through the creation of economic partnership between enterprises. Based on records of Yugoslav enterprises in the Global South, as well as special reports on UNIDO-Yugoslav technical cooperation, the paper will illustrate the complex dynamics of its implementation on the ground, and the multiple constraints faced by this project.