Rising powers and IMF governance reform

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has long been under fire for not adapting its governance and quota structure to the growing economic weight of emerging and developing countries in the world order. Starting from the preferences of the main players (BRICS, US and advanced European countries), this chapter discusses the 2010 quota and governance reform package to address this problem and advances explanations for its modest outcome. It is argued that the US and the European countries enjoyed substantial ‘structural’ and ‘institutional’ power in ways that reduced the influence of the BRICS to impose a more generous reshuffling of voting power within the IMF. Furthermore, we assess the current state of implementation of the 2010 reforms and discuss its follow-up, namely the debate on the new quota formula and the next quota review. While large emerging and developing countries might develop alternative options to reduce their dependency on the IMF, they have definitely not turned their back on the IMF in the face of lack of progress in the reform process