STWR - Share The World's Resources

The International Monetary Fund regained its relevance at the G20 Summit with a trebling of its resources for lending – but is resurrecting the IMF such a good idea considering its controversial history?

In past financial crises, the International Monetary Fund has failed as an effective lender of last resort. This time, governments should insist that the practice of the IMF is reformed before allocating it further resources, says a report by CEPR.

Intellectual property law leaves the poor and the indigenous vulnerable to patent piracy. Recognizing their rights would bring about crucial progress in the development of the Third World where traditional knowledge is a valuable natural resource, argues FeiFei Jang.

The WTO's urgency to open up markets through seeking a Doha Round agreement has other motives - to mitigate the cost of the financial collapse at the expense of developing countries, argues Umberto Mazzei.

The World Bank's proposals for a host of social protection measures following the economic crisis are mainly concerned with fostering some level of legitimacy in a teetering system, while continuing the "super-exploitation" of the poor in developing countries, argues Reihana Mohideen.

Some Obama-watchers claim he's waffling on his promise to renegotiate NAFTA, but this is a historic opportunity to change course in crisis, and should no longer be a question of 'will he or won't he', writes Laura Carlsen.

The financial crisis, an unjustified faith in multilateral system solutions and a potentially relegitimised form of neoliberalism via the election of Barack Obama as US president points to a sober conclusion: that free market economics is far from over, says Patrick Bond.