THE OPEC FUND THE BIG PICTURE
From structural change to neoliberalism, the MDGs to the SDGs, the international community has shifted approach and raised its game on many occasions over the last five decades. In our highly unstable polycrisis world, what comes next? By Angus Downie INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: A 50-YEAR RETROSPECTIVE
O ver the past 50 years that the OPEC Fund has been in existence, international economic development has accelerated significantly, with progress marked by a range of key milestones and improvements. When it comes to politics, the last half century has seen the end of the last colonial empires and instead a shift of decolonialization and liberation struggles from the overthrow of regimes to fights for economic, cultural and digital sovereignty. Thinkers like Edward Said, Frantz Fanon and Samir Amin challenged Eurocentric development models by criticizing colonialism’s lasting impact on identity, power and culture, claiming that “development” often perpetuated colonial hierarchies. Their work critically shaped the development of Critical
Theory, which aimed to combine theoretical analysis of power systems with practical steps toward liberation and change of power. However, the search for alternative political models was heavily impacted by the reality of Marxism in power in the Soviet Union, the regime’s long decay and its eventual demise. Regardless of the obvious huge differences between theory and practice, nothing discredited left-wing thinking more than governing in its name did. Ironically, the same fate today is befalling capitalism as a ruling ideology. When it comes to economics, probably the most important and welcome international development in the past 50 years has been the large decrease in the number of people living in extreme
poverty – falling from nearly 2 billion in 1990 to approximately 831 million in 2025 according to the World Bank (although it has been rising again since the COVID-19 pandemic). This decline has primarily been driven by strong economic growth in East and South Asia, helped by significant health improvements thanks to vaccination programs and early childhood interventions. But while the global number has dropped, poverty remains a major issue – with a large portion now concentrated in Sub- Saharan Africa. Progress has also varied significantly by region and demographic group, including shifts in policy thinking, leadership and institutions, changing emphases, development challenges, funding trends and other issues.
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