The evolution of the international monetary and financial system

Abstract

This chapter outlines the key stages in the evolution of the international monetary system and the part played by French actors in the forefront of the scene or in the wings. It explains the French position in the negotiations on the international monetary system, from the post-war period to the 1980s. A new exchange rate and capital control interventionism is being invoked at the highest level of the international monetary and financial system. The influence of Charles Rist and Jacques Rueff is perceptible in France’s positions. The chapter provides convergent positions of four major French political figures, coming from the socialist current but in favour of economic liberalization: Jacques Delors, Henri Chavranski, Pascal Lamy and Emmanuel Macron. The negotiations open in Bretton Woods in 1944 are at once based on the American plan settled by H. D. White, the British government having in April agreed to waive the plan presented by J. M. Keynes in September 1941.