It was established in the conference at Cairo in 1962 that the North-South division between the haves and have nots was a more dangerous division than the East-West division that the Western countries had otherwise been concerned with. The realists had previously not given much importance to the North-South division. An example of this is that Friedrich List stated the importance of adopting protectionist policies for the Britain by US and Germany but didn’t pay attention to the industrialization for the South. He claimed that the countries of the North are suited for manufacturing but the South states should provide them ‘colonial produce in exchange for their manufactured goods’ (Cohn 2016, p. 69). However, in the 1970s, the realists started paying more attention to the South. This happened mainly because of their interest in the Least Developed Countries(LDCs) that posed a challenge to the hegemony of the West. They also started paying attention to OPEC. When the demand for NIEO was supported by G-77 in the UN, the realists started to examine it’s possible impact. They also started examining the challenges posed by the emergence of BRICS economies and on resource nationalism of the OPEC countries.

In contrast to the realists, the liberals look at the North-South relations from a different lens. Whereas liberals see LDCs as seeking wealth and prosperity, realists argue that they in fact seek increased power as well as wealth. The realists believe that the weak international position of the South is a problem along with the problem of under-development. However, the realists acknowledged that during the period of the Cold War, the South states attempted to decrease their vulnerability by engaging in collective action, eg- G-77 has played an important role in putting pressure on the North. They have also made attempts to alter international economic regimes and organizations such as demanding for an NIEO at the UN. Both liberals and realists, accept capitalism as the most desirable system for conducting international economic relations.

Constructivist’s interpretation of the North-South relations

Constructivism, an important theory of International relations seeks to study the world politics and how it has been ‘socially constructed’. As a theory, it primarily focuses on issues of identity in global politics. According to the constructivists, the North-South relations during Cold War were affected by a state’s pluralistic identities. Gender, ethnicity, nationalism, sexuality and religion form a variety of identities which