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Whatever Happened to Global Governance?

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26/08/2014

BBC Radio 4 - Whatever Happened to Global Governance?

Prof Ngaire Woods examines how international cooperation is evolving.

Prof Ngaire Woods examines how the way that countries cooperate with each other is evolving in surprising ways.

The way that countries cooperate with each other is changing, and in surprising ways. The old powers - the United States, Britain, Europe - used to hold the reins of how global issues were dealt with. Professor Ngaire Woods examines how a new playing field is emerging where newcomers - such as Brazil, Russia, India and China - are creating their own solutions.

Is old-style global governance fragmenting? In 1944, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, was the birthplace of the familiar international organisations that keep countries talking to each other. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank were created, followed by the United Nations and what went on to be the World Trade Organisation (WTO). They were a huge achievement - but 70 years on, are they fit for purpose?

The world's smaller economies, such as in Africa, used to have to go cap in hand to Washington DC for answers. Now they have many other options. Professor Woods speaks to former chief economists of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz and Justin Yifu Lin, and former WTO director, Pascal Lamy, to find out why.

So as the old system fragments, how will the world solve its big issues, such as poverty, climate change, immigration and pandemics? And how will Britain negotiate this new terrain?


Producer: Dominic Byrne
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.

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