This volume provides an analysis of the global monetary system and proposes a comprehensive yet evolutionary reform of the system aimed at creating better monetary cooperation for the twenty-first century.

This work provides an analysis of the global monetary system and proposes a comprehensive yet evolutionary reform of the system aimed at creating better monetary cooperation for the twenty-first century.

Master's Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Politics - Topic: International Organisations, grade: 1,0, LMU Munich (Geschwister Scholl Institute for Political Sciences), language: English, abstract: Against the backdrop of the renminbi issue, this paper retraces the unique trajectory of the international law (IL) on exchange rates – from the lawlessness of the gold standard to a highly regulated system under Bretton Woods and back to the obscure arrangement that has prevailed ever since the Second Amendment of the IMF's Articles of Agreement. By employing the concept of legalization, it argues that international monetary stability is a public good which, as a collective action problem, provides strong incentives for cooperation. However, the analysis of the IMF's bilateral surveillance regime reveals that after the Second Amendment hard legalization no longer served the interests of the IMF membership, while the costs of hard legal rules tipped the scale in favour of soft commitments. Specifically, the paper finds that exchange rates are subject to high uncertainty costs stemming from measurement difficulties, complexity, goal incongruence and subjectivity; as well as sover-eignty costs due to reputational damage, distributional impact and loss of monetary power.

In Contemporary international affairs, security is not a one-dimensional concept. Nations define security across economic, military, political, and even social boundaries. In International Cooperation and Public Goods, Mark Boyer broadens the understanding of security beyond military capability and shows how economic and political power enter into the balance, especially in the case of advanced industrialized nations. In contrast to the theorists who insist that U.S. military efforts are providing the Eastern allies with a "free ride," Boyer reaches dramatically different conclusions regarding the nature of alliance burden sharing, the efficiency of security provision, and the future of allied cooperation as American hegemony declines. Focusing on "trade" in public goods and on the Ricardian theory of comparative advantage, he demonstrates that nations specialize in the production of alliance goods - economic, political, or military - for which they possess advantages over other nations.