The North-South divide has remained a major fissure in the international system since the days of European colonialism. Even though it was an important feature of the system during the post-World War II years, its significance was not adequately appreciated for more than four decades because of the political and academic obsession with the Cold War, especially with the balance of terror that appeared to threaten the very existence of all of humanity.Nonetheless, the divisions between North and South manifested themselves in various forms during the Cold War era. They did so in the continuing confrontation between North and South over residual issues of colonialism, racism, and apartheid. They were evident in the attempt by the G-77 to improve the terms of economic exchange between North and South, especially through the unsuccessful attempt to create a New International Economic Order (NIEO). They were demonstrated in the activities of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) that embodied the South's attempt not only to steer clear of Cold War alliances but also to project a united front within the UN and outside on issues that divided North from South. Finally, the North-South division was plainly obvious in the attempt by resource rich and strategically situated countries of the South to take charge of their natural resources, such as oil, and strategic waterways, such as the Suez Canal, that despite de-colonization remained largely under the control of Northern powers or firms based in the North.Most such attempts either failed or succeeded only partially because of the weakness of individual Southern countries, many of whom were dependent on Northern powers for the security of their states or, more often, of their regimes. Most Southern states were also economically dependent on Northern markets for the sale of the raw materials they produced, for the import of manufactured and industrial goods, and for loans and grants financed by the Northern industrialized countries either directly or through international institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The conglomerate of Northern powers controlled these multilateral lending institutions through the weighted voting formulas on which they operated. In a nutshell, the vulnerability of individual Southern states prevented them from effectively using their collective clout in international forums to make major dents into the North's monopoly of wealth and power in the international system (Ayoob 1989). Institutions like the G-7 (now the G-8), the exclusive club of the leading industrialized states, and the UN Security Council, whose veto-wielding permanent members determined the institution's priorities, became leading instruments of the North's control of both the international economic and security agendas and the marginalization of most Southern concerns.