ABSTRACT

During the late summer of 1982 serious fears began to be voiced about the stability of the international banking system. The central concern was whether defaults by one or a number of Third World countries on their debts to the international banks would trigger a collapse of the entire system. In the event of such a collapse the world economy would be thrown into a yet deeper recession than was already the case. The Brandt Commission issued a second report in 1983, Common Crisis,which was largely concerned with forestalling a collapse in the international financial system. This was accompanied by numerous plans and proposals for dealing with the crisis.