Beginning with the collapse of Bretton Woods gold currency standard, Mark Allen depicted the strides as well as weaknesses of post-crisis financial governance through a series of examples.  Allen assessed the outcomes of the negotiations from the Pittsburgh Communiqué and extracted lessons for future global financial governance.  Outcomes achieved at the Pittsburg Communiqué have been “a step toward greater global governance, but not a leap,” Allen stated.  He named the limited direct criticism at international fora as the main hindrance to major breakthroughs, and in the future expects the IMF to have an increasingly large role as the mediator and instigator of the previously avoided global discussions.  

Allen strongly believes that “international cooperation can make things better” in the international system, however, international fora rarely achieve the outcomes, and regulation necessary for stability.  As a result, international fora have evolved several times, attempting to downsize participants while increasing constituencies.  As a highly politicized process, the limited change occurring in institutional membership, seat allocation and fora inclusion, continue to inhibit the direct negotiations the global system requires.  Allen concluded that the international system is in need of a stronger secretarial power, and he sees the role of the IMF expanding to fill this void.  Equipped with growing legitimacy from its track record of accurate policy prescriptions, Allen hopes that the IMF will gain greater authority in pushing the most pertinent global agenda. 

Mark Allen is the Senior IMF Resident Representative for Central and Eastern Europe. 

"Reason and Rules in International Economic Policy Making" [download presentation]