OVERCOMING THE CRISIS

Summer 2009

by Alvaro de Vasconcelos

The G20 London meeting in April symbolised the end of an era. Now the West needs the Rest. But the emerging powers won’t be able to participate effectively in the new order until they set fair representation. As a forum, the G20 isn’t up to the job of providing guidance and orientation when the world is in the tails of global turmoil. It doesn’t have the institutions to ensure continuity, and most important of all, it lacks the capacity to implement and enforce decisions.

G20 is just the first step in a process that will demand of the Western powers much more painful ones. They will need to share with the new global powers control of international organisations like the IMF. New multilateral organisations based on the WTO model will be needed to regulate international finance.

All of which means an opportunity now exists to rebuild the foundations of the multilateral system. But if this opportunity isn’t seized, there is a real danger that the trend towards bilateralism and ad hoc groups such as a G2 tandem of the U.S. and China and nationalist fragmentations arising from power politics, will prevail.

Further articles in this  OVERCOMING THE CRISIS section
Edmond Alphandéry	"It's up to Europe to set a global example of concertation"
Jerzy Buzek	"Let's return to the grassroots and base growth on savings and productivity"
Mark Eyskens	“My 10 point rulebook for the globalised economy”
Franz Fischler	“What we need first and foremost is a change in public consciousness”
Nicole Gnesotto	"We need a new global political deal now the West is no longer master of the world"
Béla Kádár	“To save the market economy and democracy, governance has to step in where corporations ruled and markets failed”
Noëlle Lenoir	"My five courses of action"
John Monks	“The financial markets are where the re-building must start”
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen	"The EU must pull its weight and demonstrate real leadership"
Klaus Regling	“Better regulation and supervision, and the greater legitimacy of international financial institutions”
Onno Ruding	“Implement de Larosière and then consider further reform”
André Sapir	"Restoring the health of banking is no longer a financial problem but a political one"
Tøger Seidenfaden	“We urgently need much stronger international institutions"
Constantine Simitis	“Fiscal stimuli, yes. But social goals are also crucial”
Loukas Tsoukalis	"To be a major player on the new global architecture, Europe must end its IMF over-representation"
Alvaro de Vasconcelos	"Now it's the West that needs the Rest"
George Vassiliou	"How to beat this crisis and head-off another"
Nicolas Véron	“Institutional innovation, not streamlining, is today’s priority”
Stephen Wall	“We need a eurozone regulatory structure, and if Britain wants a role it must manage its eurozone entry”
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