The Global Economic Order: The International Law and Politics of the Financial and Monetary System

Exploring in depth the institutions that underpin the global economy, this study provides invaluable insights into why a minimum economic order has endured for so long and why states are unwilling to establish a maximum order, a global safety net for all. The author investigates how debt - a critical component of states’ infrastructure - leads to debilitating crises, and how these crises undermine the economic autonomy and political independence of states. A must read for those who wish to understand how the world economic order operates and impacts the well-being of individuals and entire populations, this book is indispensable for professionals and students in the fields of law, political sciences and international relations and those who seek to understand why economic peace is, in many cases, beyond our reach.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Part I. Making Economic Policy 1. The One and Only Sovereign 2. The Trilemma Part II. Economic Strategies of States 3. The United States as the Global Sovereign 4. The Core and the Periphery Part III. Searching for World Order: Conflicts, Truces and Peace 5. Coordination and Conflict 6. The Gold Standard 7. From World War I to World War II 8. The Bretton Woods System 9. The Bretton Woods Collapse: the 1970s 10. The 1980s 11. The 1990s 12. The 2008 Financial Crisis 13. The International Monetary Fund and World Order Part IV. Global Bodies, Societies and Guilds 14. The Global Law-Making Process 15. Financial Infrastructure 16. Global Financial Regulation 17. Foundations of a Minimum Economic Order 18. Case Study-The Greek Debt Crisis (2009-2018) Index

About the Author :
Elli Louka, President, Law-in-Action, US

Review :
’It all comes together in Louka's extraordinarily lucid, accessible and realistic account of the structure and workings of the global political-economic system. Her book is rich in descriptions of key institutions and in contemporary and historic examples. Louka's deconstruction of the global law-making process and the regulatory initiatives of the key international institutions as well as her recommendations for securing minimum order in the system are refreshingly feasible and reasonable.’ - Michael Reisman, Yale Law School, US ’In this book, Elli Louka reassesses a collection of key issues that shape the international law and politics of the financial and monetary system, such as the making of economic policy, economic strategies of states, global economic conflicts, truces and peace, and global bodies, societies and guilds. The analysis is thoughtful and provocative which makes The Global Economic Order a most valuable and important contribution to financial and monetary system governance literature.’ - Julien Chaisse, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR ’In this amazingly comprehensive book Elli Louka masterfully describes the politics and policies, the law and institutions, and the formal and informal processes and participants that have defined the global financial and monetary system, past and present. This is a sober and necessary explanation and evaluation of why and how minimum order has been maintained and why maximum order is so elusive.’