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developed countries to the OPEC members. The majority of developing countries believed thatOPEC was a good example of what could be achieved by them and which role they could play inthe international economic life.Nevertheless, the success of the OPEC was overestimated and it became obvious foreveryone during the 1981 oil crisis. On the other hand, the crisis showed the western counties thatthe success of the OPEC is largely depended on the demand on oil, and the demand, obviously,comes mainly from them.What is interesting, that the number of attempts of the developing countries to unite andstruggle jointly for common interests also failed, for many reasons, such as: differences inideology, culture, industrialization level, etc.According to radical countries, the main reason for the unfair international political andeconomic system is the liberal international economic order created after the WWII.Gilpin notes that after the World War II the developed countries had made numerous attemptsto provide support to postcolonial and other developing countries in hastening their economicgrowth, but the process was not deliberate, well planned and, in many cases, far from being fair.As an illustration, he brings the example of deterioration of the economic situation in Africa,suspension of the economic growth in Latin America in 80s of the last century and entireconcentration of attention on the Far East.In this chapter of the course the phenomenon of Newly Industrialized Countries is alsodiscussed with the aim to understand what were the main reasons, both economic and political, fortheir incredibly high rate of economic growth. The success of these counties questions the issue ofglobal poorness. If these countries, dependent in the past, managed to achieve such a higheconomic growth rate, why other similar countries did not manage to do the same? Can Georgialearn anything from these countries and what internal and external political preconditions should bein place to ensure similar developments?According to many scholars the future of the Newly Industrialized Countries largely dependson the growth rate of the global economy, openness of the markets of the developed countries andthe progress in the sphere of industrial technologies.Subsystems of international economic system, proposed by Joan Spero, are discussed furtherin the course.The Western System, which is also called the system of interdependence, unites highlydeveloped countries with the advanced economies. Relationship among the countries is so tightthat their economies are extremely sensitive to both political and economic changes in each ofthese countries. The western subsystem unites countries sharing the ideas of liberalism. Here it isattempted to explain what are the benefits of such tight interrelationship and interdependence and,on the other hand, what are minuses. Is there real threat to the political independence of thecountries? Do they have to sacrifice their national interests, culture, etc? Why this interdependencehas so many opponents? All these issues are analyzed in the course and questions answered.The second subsystem is the North-South subsystem, also called the subsystem ofdependence. Unlike the western subsystem, countries of this subsystem are radically different fromeach other. It unites western well developed countries and Latin American, Asian and Africandeveloping countries. Tension between them is obvious and it has long history.The main problem of this subsystem is dependency. The dependency exists when southcourtiers have intensive interaction with the northern countries and when this interaction is vitallyimportant for national economies of the south countries and, consequently, these countriesbecome dependent on all political and economic events taking place in the northern countries.However, for the northern countries these interactions are not qualitatively important. Hence,interdependence is symmetric, while dependence is - asymmetric. There are different forms ofdependence: in trade, in investments, in financial spheres, etc.The course tries to examine why the dependence exists, its roots, tendencies andperspectives. Also, attempts to look at the problem from both sides and analyze pro and contraarguments, and again, think over the Georgia’s perspectives based on other countries’ experience.What niche can Georgia hold in today’s international economic system and which role it is ready toplay? Which political preconditions are necessary for this?The third system proposed by Joan Spero was the East-West subsystem, also called theindependence subsystem. The subsystem included the Soviet Union and its satellite socialistcountries, mainly in Eastern Europe. Naturally, the subsystem does not exist currently, but its71