International Agenda for the 1990s. Report of the United Nations of the Next Decade Conference (23rd, Brioni, Yugoslavia, July 17-22, 1988).

The conference reported on in this document focused on the profound changes taking place in the world, changes characterized by their international nature and requiring multinational cooperation. The security of national borders continues to be a concern, but internal threats to governments are the more common phenomenon. The combination of poverty and mushrooming population in the developing nations presents a new threat to security in the North. Other security threats are drug-trafficking, terrorism, and increased worldwide conventional arsenals. New threats to the environment have caught the attention of world leaders. The transformation in global economic activity was targeted as an important change that has yet to be adequately addressed. Directly related to the economic transformation is the technological revolution. The United Nations (UN) has traditionally been handed many of the world's most insoluble problems. Given the recent successes of the UN in defusing regional conflicts and a generally more positive world attitude toward the institution, the outlook for the UN to effectively handle traditional security concerns has improved somewhat. The prospects are not as bright for dealing with new security issues. The problems emerging cannot be contained within national boundaries and are not prone to control either intra- or inter-nationally by governments. World leaders must recognize that the world is entering a new era and develop an agenda that ensures that peaceful change is possible. A list of the participants and the conference-opening address are included. (Author/JB)