Natural Resources and Violent Conflict - WaterWiki.net

356 guillaumont and guillaumont jeanneneywhich are assumed to be reversible and are the shocks that are of interestfor the concept of instability.Why Have the Solutions Adopted Proven Inadequate?Over 40 years of debate about the effects of export instability, variousattempts have been made to deal with it. They have often proven inadequate,to such an extent that debate on the very advisability of newmeasures has been made more difficult, as they are regarded from theoutset as a return to outdated positions. Four major categories of measureshave been tried.International Price AgreementsA first category of measures is intended to have a direct impact oninternational prices. This is the case of the international commodityagreements aimed at stabilizing the international price of a given commodityby involving both producer and consumer countries. The functioningof such agreements entails the use of a buffer stock or, in somecases, recourse to flexible production quotas. In 1976, at the height ofthe popularity enjoyed by such agreements, the resolution on the IntegratedProgramme for Commodities adopted at United Nations Conferenceon Trade and Development IV contemplated the introductionof such agreements for all (about 20) major commodities. A CommonFund for Commodities was even established with a view to financingthis program. In any event, international commodity agreements ofinterest to the developing countries have remained limited in number(cocoa, coffee, sugar, tin, and natural rubber—the last being the onlyagreement concluded after 1976), and their effectiveness has been limited.Not only have such agreements been difficult to negotiate, but,more important, once agreements have been reached they have met withonly temporary success in warding off major price spikes and, in particular,sharp drops. At present, none of these agreements is effectivelybeing implemented.The very principle of international price stabilization agreementshas been the subject of a sizable body of critical literature (in particular,Newberry and Stiglitz 1981). Experience suggests that the mainreason for their failure is that they limited their aims to price stabilizationaround the long-term market trend and, to one extent or another,ran up against that trend when attempting to affect it. It is symptomaticthat the agreement that has best resisted this phenomenon is