Summits and the international system
This post was written by Kevin O’Rourke
Brad Setser has a typically thoughtful piece on the relative roles of summits and unilateral action in shaping the international econnomic system here.
This post was written by Kevin O’Rourke
Brad Setser has a typically thoughtful piece on the relative roles of summits and unilateral action in shaping the international econnomic system here.
April 4th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
A very interesting account by Brad Setser which shows the linkages between economics and geopolitics.
The reform of international institutions is notoriously difficult. The UN has been trying to reform itself for decades, particularly by reforming the Security Council, but there are so many players and so many linkages that even modest improvements are blocked. Substantial reforms require a great crisis with a massive realignment of forces. The Great Depression undermined the existing international institutions but it took WWII to create the space for a new beginning. It may be a very distant silver lining, but economic pressures may be increasing to a point where reform overcome inertia.