countries affected, and the socio-political situation had, indeed, become so combustible that many of those societies were becoming ungovernable. On the other hand, the 1980s had also been a decade of remarkably fast and radical transformations in both the economy and society. Scientific and technological advances and their application to production had been one of the oustanding features, as had the emergence of new poles of economic strength and new economic activities and products. The world economy had, moreover, moved towards greater integration because of the far-reaching changes, particularly in former centrally-planned economies, in the ways societies organized themselves for production and governance, which had led to a gradual convergence of views on economic and social policy formulation. The principal challenge in the l990s would be to ensure that developing countries could benefit from those changes. The thaw in international tensions and the lessening of the arms race held out the promise that resources would be released for that purpose. The restructuring and modernization of the developing countries' economies and their revitalized growth depended upon non-discriminatory access to markets, relief from the debt trap, increased concessional resources to the low-income countries, and better access to new technologies. Adjustment with a human face was also a necessary part of that process, but by itself was unlikely to regenerate growth in the hard-hit I • • • E/1990/SR.S English Page 7 (Mr. Ahmed) economies. A substantial improvement in the external economic environment and a significant strengthen1ng of international e~onomic co-operation would be necessary to support the changes in institutions and policies required to build prosperity and ensure more even distribution of wealth and opportunities and vastly wider participation by the p Governments, the prosp dramatically. If such policies were put into practice by all the developing countries in the 1990s would improve 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the global economic situation in the 1990s, highlighting the challenges faced by developing countries and the need for international cooperation to address these issues. The text touches on topics such as economic growth, debt, technology, and market access, which suggests that the primary focus is on economic development.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade