A review of the political and economic power of the International Monetary Fund and how the policies of structural adjustment it applied to Africa since 1990s are now being applied to Southern Europe.

1. Global Civil Society accepted as problematic - no global state
GSMs and GSOs are sub-nation state in the global space
global civil society needed for :
neo-Gramscians for counter hegemony
moralists and constructivists for global norm
change and development
global governance - instruments of policy
Actors in multi-national /global civil society space
• corporations and and banks in industrial and service sectors
politics of sectors – sectoral regime
• social movements and global civil society
• global ngo federations
• networks global cyber-space
Research Project: Global Politics J. Harrod- UvA (8,6/3)
IMF and the Africanisation of Southern Europe
Jeffrey Harrod December 2011

2. Westphalia nation state system
League of Nations
United Nations
• world government and its opposition
- functional theory of peace by pieces (Mitrany and functionalism)
integration and cooperation and spill over
• International Organisation = first attempt at global government
(
• government without sovereign authority
15/1Global Governance 1: Inter-state
Cooperation

3. 15/2
Organogram for Intended World Government

4. Global Governance 2 Governance by Global Private
Authority
• The ideal definition
“Governance is the sum of many ways individuals and institutions, public and
private, manage their common affairs. It is a continuing process through which
conflicting or diverse interests may be accommodated and co-operative action
taken. It includes formal institutions and regimes empowered to enforce
compliance, as well as informal arrangements that people and institutions either
have agreed to or perceive to be in their interest”
UN Commission on Global Governance
• a realist definition
“a process at the global level through which diverse interests are accommodated
or subsumed thorough the actions of powerful non-state actors”
J.Harrod 2010
• most important non-state actors = multinational corporations and banks
• organisations of the global civil society – counter-hegemonic ? .
15/5

5. Diagram: Multinational and International Economic Organisations

6. IMF who Controls? Nominal
Percent Vote
USA 16.7
Japan 6.24
Germany 5.8
France 4.29
UK 4
China 3.81
Saudi Arabia 2.80
Russia 2.39
Total Single countries 8 46.03
ROW 180 countries 16 groups 53.97
IMF Executive Board (meets weekly) 2011

7. IMF who Controls? Real?
“Our future could be one in which continued tumult feeds the financial system,
and we talk more and more about exactly how our oligarchs became bandits
and how the economy just can’t get into gear”
Former Chief Economist IMF, Simon Johnson in “the Quiet Coup” Atlantic May
2009
It was further found that the United States intervened in both the 1987 and 1991
agreements by usurping staff recommendations and undermining negotiations to
ensure that these two agreements were lenient. The United States intervened
in the 1987 and 1991 negotiations to preserve the political stability of the
pro-Western Egyptian regime during a particularly turbulent time.
Bessma Momani American politicization of the International Monetary Fund
Review of International Political Economy 11:5 December 2004: 880–904

8. IMF and Debt Collecting
IMF 1 - assistance with balance of payments difficulties 1944 - 1980
IMF 2 = global debt collector from “third world” 1980 -2011
IMF 3 = 2011?? Global debt collector Southern Europe
* IMF becomes partner in supervising the
economies of Greece Italy Spain and Ireland
* IMF to receive $200 billion loan from North
Europe for the same purpose
Structural adjustment programmes,
“Stabilize, liberalize, privatize”
Organise the economies for the maximum ability to repay
the debt.
Economic model – Anglo-American neo liberal

9. By 1996 76 countries had undergone IMF Structural Adjustment Programmes
The Medium to Long term Political response
In Latin America – the emergence of left populism and the reduction of
external influence
In Asia – the emergence of authoritarian developmentalist states and
resistance to external influence
In Africa – civil war,continued patronage states and increased external
influence
Political Outcomes Structural Adjustment

10. Country Per Capita External Debt
To nearest $ 1000
Percent
of GDP
UK
144
400
Germany 57 142
France 74 182
Ireland 519 1,165
Italy 36 108
Spain 47 154
Greece 47 174
External Debt Selected European Countries
the total public and private debt owed to nonresidents repayable in internationally
accepted currencies, goods, or services

11. QUO VADIS Southern Europe
• left populism?
• miltary/authoritarian?
• patronage?
• if the latter after heavy structural adjustments (assets to mnc’s,
continued dependence of foreign banks)
• then the Africanisation of Southern Europe

12. “Remember the statement of President Eisenhower in the 1950s – he said:-
‘we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether
sought or unsought, by the industrial-military complex. The potential for the
disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let
the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic
processes.’
This never happened.
But are we now not in the presence of a global financial power which
threatens the power of representative governments?
I am convinced that we are.” Felipe
Gonzalez
The Last Word
Felipe Gonzalez, ex prime minister of Spain 1982-1996 speaking in an
interview April 2010 as reported in El Pais, Madrid 10, May 2010.
“And unlike the great power conflicts and clear lines of division that defined the
20th century, our effort will involve disorderly regions, failed states, diffuse
enemies.” Barak Obama
Remarks by the President Obama in Address to the Nation on the “Way Forward in
Afghanistan and Pakistan” Eisenhower Hall Theatre, United States Military Academy
at West Point, 1, December 2009 ( Whitehouse website)
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