Tomorrow's Debt, Today's Duty: Debt Sustainability as Anticipatory Global Governance

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sovereign debt projections permeate international economic affairs. While concerns about debt sustainability motivate much policy analysis and commentary, this article unpacks the anticipatory practices through which (un)sustainable future debt is turned into a governance object in the first place. To this end, I examine the joint Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF or Fund) and the World Bank (or Bank). I empirically focus on the cases of Sudan and Somalia, both of which are low-income countries (LICs) classified as weak performers under the Fund-Bank Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Based on documentary evidence from twelve DSAs, I argue the IMF and World Bank's projections reflect a contractual understanding of debt, embrace economic growth as a panacea for chronic indebtedness and downplay structural constraints on debt sustainability. The resulting futures reveal some of the political choices inscribed in seemingly neutral instruments of anticipatory global governance.