Critics argue that the World Bank, IMF, and WTO were designed to serve Western interests

The World Bank, IMF, and WTO all face calls for structural reform

Researchers argue that all three major institutions face legitimacy and effectiveness challenges, including outdated governance structures, unequal voting power, and difficulty adapting to a more multipolar world.

The Bretton Woods conference in 1944 created the foundations of the modern global economy

In July 1944, 44 nations gathered in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to create a new postwar economic order. The conference led to the creation of the IMF and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development—now known as the World Bank.

The Bretton Woods economic order was built on Keynesian principles

Keynesian economics suggests that governments should actively manage economies to prevent downturns, promote employment, and regulate markets. The Bretton Woods institutions were created based on this belief that coordinated public intervention could prevent the economic crises of the 1930s.

The World Bank funds development in the world's poorest countries

Originally called the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank was established in 1944 to assist in rebuilding war-damaged countries and has since grown to finance long-term economic development worldwide.

Some scholars consider the Bretton Woods system one of the best foreign policy decisions in US history

A survey of historians by the Council on Foreign Relations ranked the creation of the Bretton Woods system among the top 10 foreign policy decisions in US history, highlighting its role in establishing postwar stability, prosperity, and decades of economic growth.

The BRICS development bank was created as an alternative to Western-led institutions

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa founded the New Development Bank in 2015, clearly positioning it as a counterbalance to the World Bank and IMF—and a way for middle powers to influence global economic governance.

British economist John Maynard Keynes originally proposed a global currency called the bancor.

The 1997 Asian financial crisis tested the limits of the rules-based order's financial architecture

When a currency crisis hit Thailand, Indonesia, and South Korea, the IMF allocated $118B in emergency loans. However, the attached conditions were widely criticized for worsening the economic downturn and increasing distrust of Western-led institutions across the Global South.

The IMF was created to prevent the currency crises that destabilized the 1930s global economy

Founded in 1945, the IMF monitors exchange rates, promotes financial stability, and provides emergency funding to countries that cannot pay for their imports. It currently has 191 member countries and acts as a lender of last resort for struggling economies.

British colonialism left economic institutions that still shape growth today

This analysis argues that while the British Empire inflicted exploitation and long-term harm, it also exported institutions—like standardized property rights and land surveying—that boosted economic development in some colonies.

Some experts argue that Russia was never effectively integrated into the rules-based order after 1991

This piece argues that Russia's difficult relationship with the IMF and World Bank in the 1990s—characterized by economic shocks and perceived Western condescension—helped shape Moscow's later hostility toward the liberal order.

Arguments for returning to a gold standard reappear from time to time

However, critics argue that globalization has made the gold standard impractical for modern economies, as it limits a nation’s ability to have a flexible monetary policy—hence, none of today's governments have a gold standard.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and its successor, the WTO, was formed to reduce trade barriers between nations.

The failures of the interwar period made the case for a new international system

After World War I, countries devalued their currencies, raised tariffs to block imports, and seized territory unchecked, with the international community unable to organize effectively to stop them. The result was a global depression and, eventually, another world war.

During the Cold War, the rules-based order was largely limited to the West

The Soviet Union and its allies operated outside the Bretton Woods institutions, meaning the postwar liberal order functioned as a regional rather than a truly global system. This changed with the USSR's collapse in 1991.

The GATT and its successor, the WTO, were established to lower trade barriers

Signed in 1947, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade began systematically reducing tariffs and trade barriers among member nations. In 1995, it was replaced by the World Trade Organization, which expanded those rules and established a formal dispute settlement system.

The WTO is the global body that sets and enforces the rules of international trade

Founded in 1995, with 164 member countries, the WTO negotiates trade agreements, resolves disputes between nations, and aims to reduce barriers to international commerce.

Harry Dexter White outmaneuvered Keynes to make the dollar the center of the new global monetary system

The chief US Treasury economist at the conference, White, advocated for a dollar-centered exchange rate system over Keynes' competing idea of a new global currency, shaping the postwar economic order for decades.

The G20 emerged from the 1997 Asian financial crisis as a forum for managing the global economy

Established in 1999 and elevated to a leaders' summit during the 2008 financial crisis, the G20 now unites the world's largest economies to address issues that the Bretton Woods institutions were not designed to manage.

7 experts debate China's role in the future of the rules-based international order

This interactive feature showcases opposing arguments—from scholars who view China as a major threat to the order, to Chinese analyst Wu Xinbo's argument that China will shape the order's evolution rather than destroy it.

The history of the World Trade Organization

This episode of the "Brettonomics with Nancy Jackson" podcast explores the history of the WTO and its predecessor, the GATT, revealing the key people, negotiations, and decisions that shaped today's international trade rules.

Renewed competition between great powers is straining multilateral institutions

This analysis argues that the increasing US-China rivalry is fostering a more contested international environment—where shared rules and institutions are being challenged rather than reinforced.

Because of their size, sovereign wealth funds create anxiety about foreign undermining of financial systems

Across the board, sovereign wealth funds have an immense amount of capital, and, therefore, influence in global financial markets. Critics argue that this influence could enable a foreign country to harm another country's financial market by either investing adversely in competitive markets or by withholding critical capital.

The US dollar became the world's reserve currency, backed by gold, after 44 nations gathered in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944 with the intention of rebuilding the global economy.

The US dollar has served as the world's reserve currency for 80 years—but is its dominance coming to an end?

Since the establishment of the Bretton Woods economic system, about 90% of global foreign exchange transactions have involved USD. Although no viable alternative exists yet, the dollar's share of central bank reserves has decreased from 73% to 58% from 2001 to 2024, and President Trump's 2025 tariffs have sped up this trend.

China's WTO membership produced significant disputes

Two decades after China joined, its trade practices—such as state subsidies, intellectual property disputes, and market access restrictions—have sparked accusations that it has not fully met WTO commitments of free and open trade.

The roughly 11 countries in BRICS, an economic coalition created to counter the G7, collectively hold about 40% of global gross domestic product when adjusted for purchasing power parity.

Proponents argue that abandoning the rules-based order risks a return to the chaos that led to 2 world wars

Brookings scholar Robert Kagan warns that if China and Russia gain regional dominance, the world could return to the unstable conditions of the late 19th century—the same chaos that led to two devastating world wars.

The global economy runs on US dollars, with nearly 90% of international trade in 2019 being processed in US dollars.

Hardline China critics in the US worry that China's Belt and Road Initiative is a Trojan horse for military expansion efforts

The Belt and Road Initiative, initially launched in 2013 to develop trade routes throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, has evolved into a larger infrastructure development initiative in developing countries. The BRI is backed by the Silk Road Fund, which is administered by the two most prominent Chinese sovereign wealth funds.

John Mearsheimer argued that the liberal international order was bound to fail

University of Chicago political scientist John Mearsheimer argued in his influential essay Bound to Fail that expanding liberal democracy and open markets into other great powers' spheres inevitably leads to conflict, and that the liberal order contains the roots of its own collapse.

Microfinance, conceived as a solution to conservative critics of Western aid as a handout system in the 1980s, is a small-dollar, community-based financing structure that was originally created as a way to expand access to credit and end poverty.

China's relationship to the rules-based order is contested

In this piece, Paul Gewirtz, a professor of constitutional law at Yale Law School, argues that China has been a beneficiary, a rule-bender, and an increasingly assertive challenger of the rules-based order, aiming to revise norms it sees as reflecting Western rather than universal values.

Ray Dalio has argued that American capitalism is broken, citing economic factors like a growing wealth divide

Dalio also points to stalling income growth, weak healthcare systems, and poor educational outcomes when arguing that American capitalism needs serious reform. However, critics point out that Dalio has amassed a large fortune by running the world's largest hedge fund and question whether Dalio really wants economic reform.

Much of the Global South responded to the Russia-Ukraine war by pursuing a strategy of 'active nonalignment'

Boston University scholar Jorge Heine suggests that countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America are avoiding taking sides between Washington and Beijing—viewing the rules-based order as increasingly unresponsive to the needs of developing nations and considering the West's framing of the war irrelevant to its own interests.

After the USSR's fall, many experts believed liberal democracy had permanently prevailed

Political scientist Francis Fukuyama argued in 1992 that liberal democracy and market capitalism had defeated their ideological opponents and would eventually spread everywhere—a thesis he called "the end of history." Subsequent decades complicated that claim.

The WEF’s ‘Davos Manifesto’ is a set of guiding principles for the event

In 2020, these principles were updated for the first time in more than 40 years to include “stakeholder capitalism,” the idea that a company’s purpose is “to engage all its stakeholders in shared and sustained value creation.”

Critics argue the Dow no longer reflects the modern economy

With only 30 companies and a price-weighted formula, skeptics say the DJIA underrepresents vast sectors of the market. They claim it is outdated, though its close correlation with the broader S&P 500 keeps it relevant.

The WTO's dispute settlement system has been effectively paralyzed

The US has blocked appointments to the WTO's appellate body since 2017, arguing that the panel has overstepped its mandate. Without a functioning appeals court, the WTO can no longer enforce rulings or settle disputes.

Why some nations reach economic success and others don’t

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics winners, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson, were honored for their compelling research on the factors that influence a nation’s prosperity. Spanning two decades, their work presents insights into how societal organization can explain the income discrepancies between different countries. In general, their research shows that economic success favors more free and open societies. Listen for more fascinating insights.

Nixon's 1971 decision to untether the dollar from gold ended the Bretton Woods exchange rate system

The Bretton Woods system initially pegged all major currencies to the US dollar, which could be exchanged for gold at a fixed rate of $35 per ounce. Growing deficits and decreasing gold reserves prompted Nixon to end that guarantee in 1971, marking the end of the fixed exchange rate era.

John Maynard Keynes was one of the most influential economists of the 20th century

Keynes influenced economic thought by arguing that governments should spend to stabilize economies during downturns. His ideas shaped the postwar international order and remain central to modern economic policy debates.

The world reached historic levels of democracy under the rules-based order, though that trend has reversed

The share of democracies worldwide grew dramatically from the mid-20th century, reaching an all-time high in the early 2010s. Since then, the trend has reversed, with an increasing number of countries experiencing democratic backsliding.

Listen to a podcast episode that outlines 250 years of world trade history.

Defining the use of 'Third World' in geopolitics

The term "Third World" is mostly out of use today for its limiting connotations, but in light of a reordering of geopolitical alliances amid the Ukraine war, historians are reevaluating the term's usefulness. Read the history of the term starting from the 1950s, and learn what several experts claim about its contemporary efficacy.

An economic evaluation of US tariffs

Most economists agree that the implementation of large-scale tariffs on foreign goods would hurt both the American and global economies. This video from The Wall Street Journal explains the rationale for tariffs as a tool for domestic job creation, but explains why they may hurt the overall economy.

Some argue that credit reporting promotes economic inequality in the US

Although today's credit scoring system is much more objective than, say, the credit assessment system of the 1700s, some argue there's still room for improvement, with critics saying the current system is still discriminatory. For example, while mortgage payments have long been automatically reported to credit bureaus, rent payments (the primary housing expense for most lower-income Americans) historically haven't been reported unless a payment was missed.

Critics say that the Electoral College is outdated and favors small states

This article argues that the Electoral College no longer reflects modern democratic norms, disproportionately advantages smaller states, and warrants broader reform and national debate. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Relationships between countries have become more peaceful since the rules-based order was established

Our World in Data monitors bilateral relationships on a spectrum from open rivalry to "positive peace"—deep cooperation and mutual protection. In 1945, no countries had highly cooperative security relationships. Today, nearly a fifth do.

Critics believe Grammy expert panels primarily benefit legacy artists

When the expert review panels for the Big Four awards were disbanded, it was with the hope that the decision would lead to a broader range of nominees and winners. But, in practice, it's not clear that it's playing out that way.