UN General Assembly
1983

158. Present problems have compelled others to ask: is there not the need for a new economic order? Whether or not that question is valid we must accept that the 1944 world of Bretton Woods, the world of Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes, has changed drastically —and that is, I may say, decidedly for the better today, even though problems exist. A world now in which more national pride and consciousness exist, a world in which stultified human resources no longer exist or are not as pervasive and are now liberated for the forward motion of nation-building, the development of society and of the total individual, was then a world where less than 50 countries—most of them rulers— ruled the rest. Today 158 Member States are represented in the Assembly, more than three times the number in 1944, including many of the ruled. It is clear, then, that the reality of 1944 must be different from that of today. Whether the institutions of Bretton Woods are changed is not the only question, but rather the acceptance that there is need for serious examination of the institutions and their effectiveness in meeting the needs of the newer Members and how best they can respond to those needs.