Abstract
The New International Economic Order has become an all pervasive issue in contemporary international relations and is being discussed, debated, and considered in a number of international organizations and negotiations. Representatives of the Third World have demanded under its banner significant changes in the world's political and economic structure. It is in this context that the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea has been meeting. This study focuses upon the protracted negotiations on seabed mining and seeks to relate continuing North‐South differences to broader trends in international relations. It examines, in light of pressures for a New International Economic Order, disagreements relative to: a) access to seabed resources, b) the resource and commodity policy of the proposed International Sea‐Bed Authority, c) financial arrangements for deep seabed mining, d) transfer of technology, and e) the organizational structure of the International Sea‐Bed Authority.