ABSTRACT
What are the problems and prospects for meaningful global governance in the contemporary era? This is an especially crucial question in the light of two key trends in the contemporary world political economy. First, it is quite clear that multilateral institutions are under considerable strain. Second, we are witnessing a contest in international economic governance between ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ under conditions of globalisation, with the international economic institutions coming under considerable criticism, especially from civil society and many developing states. In examining the problems and future prospects for multilateral economic governance in the light of these developments, this chapter adopts a three-pronged approach: (a) it discusses what we mean by ‘governance’ in the international economic context; (b) it examines the current health of the principal institutions of global economic governance, notably the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF); and (c) it raises some questions about prospects for their future reform.
