ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses this reduction in sovereignty and seeks to assess whether it is warranted given the International Monetary Fund (IMF) performance in the past fifteen years and the proven capacity of some developing countries in policy development and implementation. It concludes by considering ways forward for the IMF. The sovereignty of a nation-state encompasses political autonomy, freedom to regulate movement of goods and people, control over foreign policy and the right to govern free from the interference of other states. Sovereignty is commonly seen as a fundamental tenet of international law that cannot be discarded except at the risk of undermining the international legal system. The process of increasing globalisation is commonly perceived to erode national sovereignty. However Barry Hindess argues most persuasively to the contrary in this volume that sovereignty in its contemporary form is, in fact, a product and instrument, of the process of globalisation.
