DSK and the IMF: Can Strauss-Kahn now brief Lagarde?

For the most part, the fate of Dominique Strauss-Kahn now has little impact on the International Monetary Fund. The Fund has selected a new leader and is moving on.  But in one respect, the apparent collapse of the prosecution may be consequential: it will permit new managing director Christine Lagarde to more easily seek Strauss-Kahn’s ...

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

For the most part, the fate of Dominique Strauss-Kahn now has little impact on the International Monetary Fund. The Fund has selected a new leader and is moving on.  But in one respect, the apparent collapse of the prosecution may be consequential: it will permit new managing director Christine Lagarde to more easily seek Strauss-Kahn's counsel on how to run the institution. Even before news of the prosecution's troubles hit the news, Lagarde had expressed in an interest in seeking Strauss-Kahn's advice. But consultation of that sort was going to be highly constrained with the former chief disgraced and facing the prospect of a trial. Now, Lagarde and Strauss-Kahn should be much more free to exchange ideas.

For the most part, the fate of Dominique Strauss-Kahn now has little impact on the International Monetary Fund. The Fund has selected a new leader and is moving on.  But in one respect, the apparent collapse of the prosecution may be consequential: it will permit new managing director Christine Lagarde to more easily seek Strauss-Kahn’s counsel on how to run the institution. Even before news of the prosecution’s troubles hit the news, Lagarde had expressed in an interest in seeking Strauss-Kahn’s advice. But consultation of that sort was going to be highly constrained with the former chief disgraced and facing the prospect of a trial. Now, Lagarde and Strauss-Kahn should be much more free to exchange ideas.

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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