The system worked : how the world stopped another great depression /

This book looks at the role of international institutions in global economic governance in the aftermath of the financial crisis that began in 2007-08, with the author arguing--quite reasonably--that these institutions functioned well under very difficult circumstances. Drezner (political science, Tufts Univ.) has written extensively on international economic policy. His current book consists of seven chapters. The introductory chapter asks the question: what constitutes successful global governance? The second chapter presents the argument that international institutions did work through the recent financial crisis while the third questions why the misperception that global governance failed persists. Chapter four discusses the role that material interests played in supporting global governance while chapter five considers power-based arguments for how global governance operated. Chapter six examines the role of ideas in managing the crisis and the resulting evolution of ideas in the wake of the crisis. The final chapter summarizes the conclusions and considers the implications of those conclusions for academic theory and the future of economic governance. In short, while it may still be true that the global economy is fragile, Drezner argues that these institutions survived the stress test of the crisis and may have even become more resilient in the process. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above. --Richard S. Grossman, Wesleyan University

Rarely does a book state its thesis with such simple clarity and then proceed to illuminate it. Drezner, a professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, announces in the first paragraphs that the conventional wisdom about the aftermath of the great financial crisis of 2008 is wrong. Rather than a litany of failed measures from governments and various international organizations, "global economic governance responded in an effective and nimble fashion. In short, the system worked." Why do so many believe that it did not? The main reason, Drezner says, is a culture of the media and the elite that nostalgically views national governments and international organizations like the I.M.F. as having worked better in the past. Not so, Drezner argues. They never worked well. But during the 2008-9 crisis, they collectively managed to stave off further crisis and restore international growth. Today, the global economy is increasing at a decent clip, and most countries outside of Europe and the United States managed to avoid the crisis's worst effects. Drezner puts American leadership at the center of the success story, as well as the largely cooperative relationship between the United States and China (at least in the realm of economic issues). Yet what is most intriguing about his argument is the way he depicts global governance as a teeming system of interlocking institutions, each acting responsibly. That stability, Drezner shows, more than the leadership of one hegemon, was probably the key.