III. Towards a Genuine World Economic Governance (since 1995)
A. New Face of the IMF• To compensate for the weakened IMF, a
new Governance Body instigated by the most powerful countries – G6 and later G7 in 1975-1976
• IMF finds new mission: financing third world debt. –Mexican debt crisis– Latin American intervention in 1982-1983
Reforms within IMF and World Bank
• Since 2010, voting rights altered• Gives more power to developing
countries• Decisions taken with a majority of
85% of votes• The United States and the European
Union possess a de facto veto power
Country 1947 2008 2010United States 31.46 16.76 16.5Canada 3.68 2.56Brazil 1.4 2.2 2.2France 6.23 4.29Belgium 2.83 -United Kingdom 15.02 4.29The Netherlands 3.41 2.08Germany - 5.81Italy 2.32 3.16European Union (27 members) 29.4Russia - 2.39 2.5India 4.82 2.34 2.6China 6.52 3.81 6.1Japan - 6.24G7 43.11 41.2Developed countries 57.9 55.3
Voting Rights
with the IMF
B. From the G6 to the G20 (1975-2012)
• Created in 1975 on French initiative to cope with the petroleum crisis
• Slowly enlarged to 7, 8 then 20 members
• Annual summit of heads of state of most powerful economies of the planet
• G20 Defends interests of countries representing 90% of the economy and 2/3 of the world population
Successive Enlargements
G6 (1975)
GermanyUnited StatesFranceItalyJapanUnited Kingdom
G7 (1976) Canada
G8 (1998) Russia
G20 (1999)
South AfricaSaudi ArabiaArgentinaAustraliaBrazilChinaSouth KoreaIndiaIndonesiaMexicoTurkeyEuropean Union
Criticism of G20• Lack of policy coordination between the
members• G8 continues to hold the monopoly of
power – Only wealthiest nations members– –no room made for emerging nations
• Lots of bureaucratic talk, no action• Promises to change inequalities in
system but nothing done
C. WTO replaces the GATT• A better organized world trade?–WTO created in 1995 to:– Reinforce free trade internationally• Agriculture, industry, intellectual property
– Promote sustainable development• Increased disputes and crises– Against the hegemony of the wealthy– Against liberal globalization• Anti/alter-globalization criticizing social &
environmental consequences of current system
RecapDiagram
of World
EconomicGovernance
IV. Economic governance: a southern perspective
• A. Structural Adjustment policy imposed as condition of loans– Very unpopular– Developing countries demand a more
balanced world governance body
Structural AdjustmentSome of the conditions for structural adjustment can
include:• Cutting expenditures, also known as austerity.• Focusing economic output on direct export and resource extraction, • Devaluation of currencies,• Trade liberalization, or lifting import and export restrictions,• Increasing the stability of investment by supplementing FDI with the
opening of domestic stock markets,• Balancing budgets and not overspending,• Removing price controls and state subsidies• Privatization or divestiture of all or part of state-owned enterprises• Enhancing the rights of foreign investors vis-a-vis national laws• Improving governance and fighting corruption
Which of these policies do you think are the most unpopular with developing countries?
Creation of UNCTAD 1964United Nations Conference on Trade and
DevelopmentResponsible for dealing with development issues, particularly international trade – the main driver of development.– 194 member States,– promote the macroeconomic policies best suited to ending
global economic inequalities – Generate people-centered sustainable development.– offers direct technical assistance to developing countries
helping them to build the capacities they need to become equitably integrated into the global economy
• Video: The Faces of UNCTAD 2013 Symposium 2’20
B. Anti (Alter)-Globalization Movements
• The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalization movement - critical of the globalization of corporate capitalism. – global justice movement, – alter-globalization movement, – anti-corporate globalization movement, – movement against neoliberal globalization.
• Criticism based on a number of related ideas: – opposition to large, multi-national corporations
having unregulated political power– Opposed to powers exercised through trade
agreements and deregulated financial markets
Mixed-up Priorities• Corporations are accused of seeking to
maximize profit at the expense of :– sabotaging work safety conditions and standards, – labor hiring and compensation standards, – environmental conservation principles, – the integrity of national legislative authority,
independence and sovereignty. • Misleading term:
– Many anti-globalization activists generally call for forms of global integration that better provide:• democratic representation, • advancement of human rights, • fair trade • sustainable development
The Battle of SeattleNovember 30, 1999
• 2nd major mobilization of the anti-globalization movement
• The protesters and Seattle riot police clashed in the streets after police fired tear gas at demonstrators who blocked the streets and refused to disperse.
Anti-globalization protests in Genoa in 2001 and Edinburgh at the G8 summit in
2005
World Social Forum• Created in 2001 supported by the city of Porto Alegre
(where it took place) and the Brazilian Workers Party. • The motivation was to constitute a counter-event to the
World Economic Forum held in Dayton at the same time.
• The slogan of the WSF is "Another World Is Possible".
• Periodic meetings: – 2002 and 2003 Porto Alegre - became a rallying point for
worldwide protest against the American invasion of Iraq. – 2004 Mumbai , to make it more accessible to the populations of
Asia and Africa. – 2006 Caracas, Bamako and Karachi (Pakistan). – 2007 Nairobi – 2009 the Forum returned to Brazil, where it took place in Belém– 2011, Dakar – 2014 in Porto Alegre
Occupy Wall Street Movement 2011• Peaceful protest movement denouncing the
abuses of financial capitalism.• began Sept 17, 2011 with 1000
demonstrators near Wall Street in NYC. • A portion of the demonstrators set up
temporary camp in Zuccotti Park, occupying the place in a sort of sit-in.
• Over the next few weeks, several hundred demonstrators lived and slept in the park.
• The movement also spread to other locations around the U.S. where they tended to congregate in public parks.
Statement of the 99 Percent“We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we're working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent.”
Video: What is occupy Wall Street about?
C. Influences of the anti-globalization movements
• Several influential critical works have inspired the anti-globalization movement. –No Logo, the book by the Canadian
journalist Naomi Klein –criticizes production practices of
multinational corporations and the omnipresence of brand-driven marketing in popular culture–"manifesto“ of the movement–Video: An Introduction to Naomi Klein’s
No Logo 7’24
–The writer Arundhati Roy is famous for her anti-nuclear position and her activism against India's massive hydroelectric dam project, sponsored by the World Bank.
ATTAC (Association for the Taxation of Financial
Transactions and for Citizens' Action)
• devotes itself to a wide range of issues related to globalization, monitoring the decisions of the WTO, the OECD and the IMF
• attends the meetings of the G8 with the goal of influencing policymakers' decisions
• recently criticized Germany for what it called the criminalization of anti-G8 groups.
Aims of ATTAC• to produce and communicate information, and to promote and carry
out activities of all kinds for the recapture, by the citizens, of the power that the financial sector has on all aspects of political, economic, social and cultural life throughout the world. Such means include the taxation of transactions in foreign exchange markets (Tobin tax).
• Not an anti-globalization movement, but it criticizes the neoliberal ideology that it sees as dominating economic globalization. It supports globalization policies that they characterize as sustainable and socially just.
• Slogans:– "The World is not for sale", denouncing the “merchandisation" of
society.– "Another world is possible" pointing to an alternative globalization
where people and not profit are in focus
Video: Germany spot – Move your Money Campaign
–Critics of United States foreign policy such as Noam Chomsky, Susan Sontag, and anti-globalist pranksters The Yes Men are widely accepted inside the movement.
–Video: Utopia Susan Sontag, Noam Chomsky 1’25–Yes Men - Bhopal Disaster BBC sp
oof
HomeworkWatch the Isle of Flowers in EnglishPart 1 (6’10)• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3AyWcptRx0Part 2 (6”20)• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yI7STDk5nQAnswer the following questions about the short film:1. Why has the filmmaker chosen to give definitions of
everything? What effect does this have? 2. What makes it shocking? 3. How does the film define freedom? 4. What does the video criticize exactly? Capitalism?
Globalization? Abuse of human rights? Consumerism? Profit-making? Private property?
5. How does the message of this documentary relate to the anti-globalization movement's position of being against the neo-liberal system ?
HomeworkReading Material
Articles to read on blog:– Speech by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury,
2009– G20 The South fights for the South– Inside Occupy Wall Street