International financial institutions (IFIs)

This module will enable you to explore and analyse the functions, working mechanisms and governing paradigms of the core institutions that shape the architecture of the global financial system and the global economy.

The module progresses from a review of the origins of the contemporary international financial system to an examination of  the concrete mechanisms and institutions of formal and private financial governance.

The module introduces you to the foundations of the contemporary financial architecture (week 1), leading you to examine the role and evolution of the key formal organisation of international financial and economic governance (weeks 2- 5), and explore the more hidden yet critical junctures of the contemporary paradigm of financial governance and mechanisms of regulation (weeks 7-10).

Topics covered in this module include the organisation and evolution of the Bretton Woods institutions, regional and international trade agreements, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Basle process, as well as global forums such as G8 and G20.