ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at these summits' treatment of globalisation in general and \focuses on the international response to the two financial dangers associated with globalisation: contagious speculative panic and the chronic indebtedness of low-income countries. It argues that the G7 at both summit and finance minister level contributed to the collective management of both problems, as always seeking to reconcile domestic and international politics. The chapter deals with the two most important issues in this second category: new international financial architecture and debt relief for low-income countries. It examines the global financial institutions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, together with the part played in debt relief by a plurilateral organisation, the Commonwealth. The Asian financial crisis began on 3 July 1997 when the Thai authorities were no longer able to defend the parity of the baht against the dollar. It was a revival of the troubles which overwhelmed Mexico at the turn of 1994 and 1995.
