Power Shift:
Do we need better global economic institutions?

Author: Ngaire Woods
Contributors: foreword by Hilary Benn
Price: Free
Publication Date: 26 January 2007

The world is changing. We are now at the beginning of a new era, shaped by technological, economic and social progress and by global interdependence. What happens in one place now affects those of us who live elsewhere.

Over the past year, the powerful international agencies – the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank – have been emasculated. International institutions influence the fears and aspirations of societies and in this they are crucial to managing globalisation.

This paper outlines the case for reform of the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank.