ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the shifts in power, players and paradigms since 2008 in an effort to develop expectations for the future of global economic governance. Long-term shifts in the distribution of power and preferences have the potential to substantially decrease the likelihood of meaningful policy co-ordination at the global level. The number of actors possessing 'deterrent power' has increased, and the increase in uncertainty about power and preferences has made policy co-ordination unquestionably harder. The chapter discusses the relationship between great powers and global economic governance and sketches the distribution of power in the post-2008 era. It also discusses how this redistribution of power and the uncertainty surrounding the identification of key players will affect the effectiveness of global governance outcomes. The chapter provides a discussion on the ideational and institutionalist countertrends that help explain the actual pattern of governance outputs since 2008, highlighting the challenges to efficiency and legitimacy as suggested in the Introduction to the Handbook.
