THE IMPACT OF THE DEVELOPING STATES IN THE THIRD UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON THE LAW OF THE SEA.

摘要

This study is an attempt to critically examine the role of the developing states (periphery) in the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III). The study is significant in that it offers a methodological contribution to the literature by synthesizing the struggle in the law of the sea with political economy concepts such as capital, class and class struggle, thereby calling into question the theory of peripheral capitalism.; The study attempts to support the statement that the struggle of the periphery in UNCLOS III is one that seeks to address the uneven nature of the international division of labor and fits into the general struggle for the New International Economic Order.; The principle of the "Common Heritage" of Mankind was seen as the means by which peripheral capital could put a brake on the economic (technological) advantage of the core as well as gain access to the seabed resources, thereby advancing its level of development. It was precisely within the deliberations over access to the seabed that the periphery stood juxtaposed to the core.; The true character of the peripheral struggle manifested itself over time. The battle with the core was at the level of the political (and ideological)--it was a battle that waned in the light of the superiority of the core and the contradictions within the periphery itself. The position of the periphery on the various UNCLOS III issues revealed that it was not in conflict with capital itself, but with the monopolized nature of it.