The IMF: Post-Bretton Woods Era Functions and Reform Issues

International organizations, that is, supranational institutions such as those purposefully created in the 1930s and 1940s to deal with economic problems (e.g. the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), International Money Fund (IMF), United Nations and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development later renamed the World Bank), typically function to effect cooperation on international policy matters. Sometimes these organizations have set in motion regimes of international cooperation on given issues based on principles, norms, rules, modes of consultation and decisionmaking processes around which the views of member nations converge. The vast array of international organizations created in the twentieth century take for granted some degree of international interdependence and integration that is managed for the good of all members of the international community. Some policy coordination and policy integration is assumed; some international organizations have embodied a public goods aspect without strictly entailing international government. The creation of peace through international treaty organizations, or enhancing public health status and agricultural production through the WHO and FAO respectively; the establishment of international trade and payments systems, freedom of the seas and regimes for exploiting common resources are all examples of ‘international public goods without international government’ (Kindleberger 1986).