Representation Games at the IMF

The United States is increasing pressure on Europe to cede some of its seats on the International Monetary Fund’s powerful executive board. The United States, frustrated at Europe’s refusal to share more power, this month declined to back a resolution that would have maintained European dominance over the 24-member board, diplomats from several IMF members ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

The United States is increasing pressure on Europe to cede some of its seats on the International Monetary Fund's powerful executive board.

The United States is increasing pressure on Europe to cede some of its seats on the International Monetary Fund’s powerful executive board.

The United States, frustrated at Europe’s refusal to share more power, this month declined to back a resolution that would have maintained European dominance over the 24-member board, diplomats from several IMF members countries told Reuters.

The U.S. push is part of a much broader effort to accommodate rising powers in the network of international institutions created after World War II. There is general agreement that Europe is overrepresented in a number of these fora but discord over how to remedy the situation. In the background is the complicated question of when and whether Europe should be represented by the EU rather than by individual states. 

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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