Global Financial Crisis and International Institutions: Challenges, Opportunities and Change

The global financial crisis is not just another economic downturn. It signals the need for fundamental changes in the management of the global market economy. Certainly, time has come to reshuffle voting rights in the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, recognizing shifts in global economic power. Also, the question remains of whether effective collective international action can be taken on climate change and global ecology. The crisis has offered the opportunity for reflection on the basic rules, leading hopefully to institutional evolution and not merely a huge anti-cyclical spending frenzy with a rejuvenated Keynes.