Oral history interview with Louis Emmerij, 2005.

Biographical Note

International Politics; Assistant Secretary General and special advisor to Secretary General Kofi Annan; Professor

Scope and Contents

Childhood in Netherlands, born 1934, middle-class upbringing, memories of WWII, education in economics in Paris, Italy, and New York; early exposure to UN. 1960s: PhD, marriage, daughter, economics of education, work with OECD in Mediterranean and Argentina. 1970s: work with WEP and ILO, overseeing labor and economic development in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Ideas for UN structure, employment, and future; tripartite structure of ILO. Economic theory: redistribution from growth, Kenya mission, basic needs, Maslow's hierarchy and New International Economic Order. Teaching and research at ISS, work with Iglesias at Inter-American Development Bank, intellectual framework of UN institutions. Reflections on changes in development policy; importance of human rights and human security

Subjects

• Centro de Conferencias Enrique V. Iglesias.
• Economic development.
• Economic policy.
• Emmerij, Louis--Interviews.
• Human rights.
• Institute of Social Studies (Netherlands)
• International Labour Organisation.
• Interviews.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
• United Nations--Officials and employees--Interviews.
• Weiss, Thomas G. (Thomas George), 1946- interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr
• World Employment Programme.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, 2006