ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a short introduction to the rationale of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It begins with the critique of neoliberal narratives by focusing on one of the foremost institutions of credible authority in the politico-financial arena, the IMF, and with its First Deputy Managing Director, Stanley Fischer. International Political Economy as a field of inquiry has paid little attention to the questions of risk, uncertainty and social control. Repeated cases of IMF intervention do not appear to affect the remarkable degree of synchronised thinking operating within the world of international finance and within institutions, the media, and government. Neo-liberalism and its emphasis on self – management and responsibility reinforces the notion that social control is that which is responsibly exercised by the individual, with minimal involvement from mechanisms associated with the state. This chapter introduces some of Michel Foucault's ideas on disciplinary power, the construction of knowledge systems and the 'manufacture' of individuals.
