Challenges in Global Economic Governance

Abstract

This chapter provides a brief history of international economic co-operation in the post-World War Two era. It outlines the shape and institutional structure of the contemporary international economic order, with specific reference to the respective roles of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. The chapter examines the principal challenges to these three pillars of contemporary global economic governance as they have struggled to improve both their effectiveness and their legitimacy in managing recent crises. It summarizes the main challenges to the evolving architecture of global economic governance. When it comes to the gradual development of post-crisis regulatory and policy solutions aimed at structural changes that might prevent future global economic crises, questions remain over how effective institutions such as the IMF and others can be in developing and implementing new ideas for global economic governance reforms.