On October 10, 1946 the first national assembly of the French fourth republic is chosen and on October 13 a new French constitution is selected through a referendum. The newly created politic system had to face a national post-war reality.
About two years after the announcement of the surrender of Japan to the allies on August 15, 1945, the secretary of state of the United States George Marshall proposed the assistance of the United States 'in the return of normal economic health in the world' on June 5, 1947. The same year, 16 countries gathered at Paris to answer to Marshall's proposal, from their debates a common program as well as a new Organisation, the OEEC founded on April 16, 1948, will emerge. The OEEC, precursor of the OECD is created mainly to coordinate efforts under the European Recovery Program for the reconstruction of a continent devastated by war. The total economic assistance provided by the ERP from April 3, 1947 to December 1951, rises to about twelve billion dollars. By 1948 the ERP had brought western Europe under the influence of the United States and the Soviets had already installed openly communist governments in eastern Europe. The Cold War, which probably began since the end of the Second World War, had been solidified. On April 4, 1949 while still undergoing the ERP, France signed along with other 11 countries the North Atlantic Treaty, creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, a unified military command to counterweight the soviet military presence in central and eastern Europe. Latter that same year, in 1949 the soviets were able to explode for the first time an atomic warhead, the RDS-1, thus ending the atomic bomb monopoly previously held by the United States. In 1950 the communist government of North Korea, supported by the Soviets will invade U.S. supported South Korea, starting the Korean War, which will last until 1953. Cold war will know a period of relative calm between 1953 and 1957, greatly due to Joseph Stalin's death in 1953. However, the French reality will continue to evolve thought different aspects. On Mars 2, 1956 France recognized though an agreement judging the Treaty of Fes as expired Morocco's independence, few days latter on Mars 20, 1956 the kingdom of Tunisia achieved its total independence from France as well. Finally, on October the 4th 1957, the Sputnik 1, the first artificial earth satellite is launched by the Soviet Union, announcing within the context of the Cold War, the beginning of the Space Age. It is at a moment at which the Cold War was taking place and causing the beginning of the Space Age, under the post Second World War and European reconstruction context, under the political system of the fourth republic, and with some of the ancient French colonies having recently acquired their independence, that the Institute for the Study of Economic and Social Development is created by decree of the French government on October 15, 1957, within the framework of the University of Paris University of Paris.
Publications
Publications include the Third World collection and the Third World review. IEDES signed international cooperation agreements with many African and Latin American universities and supports projects implemented by international organizations such as UNESCO. The Institute is part of scientific networks involving countries with varying living standards. The Institute is located on the “tropical Jardin de Paris” campus and works in collaboration with CIRAD, CIRED, IRD, INRA and CEDIMES.
