Can the South be heard?: a study of the South's representative at the United Nations.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20005037

This thesis uses historic and autoethnographic accounts of Group of 77 (G77) interactions to explore its effects, or lack thereof, within the UN system. First, it argues that the South, as everything that is uncivilized, subordinate, etc., has always existed through an identity built in relation to the North. But the South wants to be heard. Through historical processes, the South has condensed its efforts for emancipation from Northern rule into what became known as the G77, which is now the South's representative and voice at the UN. Yet, it is through the UN and the G77 where the South limits its voice and rule. International constructivist theory is used as a guide to analyze how the South's commitment to the UN, through its hierarchical organization, and bureaucratic nature, constrict Southern action. Moreover, as consequence of the constructed generalizations of North and South within the UN, new initiatives (energy, human rights, etc.) are precluded from penetrating the inner-ranks of order, and thus impeded from making an impact on the work of the organization.