117 114
118 115
119 116
120 117
121 118
122 119
123 120
124 121
125 122
126 123
127 124
128 125
129 126
130 127
131 128
132 129
133 130
134 131
135 132
136 133
137 134
138 135
139 136
140 137
141 138
142 139
143 140
144 141
145 142
146 143
147 144
148 145
149 146
150 147
151 148
152 149
153 150
154 151
155 152
156 153
157 154
158 155
159 156
160 157
161 158
162 159
163 160
164 161
165 162
166 163
167 164
The Case For series
Sam Pizzigati, The Case for a Maximum Wage
Louise Haagh, The Case for Universal Basic Income
James K. Boyce, The Case for Carbon Dividends
Frances Coppola, The Case for People’s Quantitative Easing
Joe Guinan & Martin O’Neill, The Case for Community Wealth Building
Anna Coote & Andrew Percy, The Case for Universal Basic Services
Gerald Friedman, The Case for Medicare for All
Pavlina R. Tcherneva, The Case for a Job Guarantee
Anna Coote, Aidan Harper & Alfie Stirling, The Case for a Four-Day Week
Richard Vague, The Case for a Debt Jubilee
Kevin P. Gallagher & Richard Kozul-Wright, The Case for a New Bretton Woods
The Case for a New Bretton Woods
Kevin P. Gallagher
Richard Kozul-Wright
polity
Copyright © Kevin P. Gallagher and Richard Kozul-Wright 2022
The right of Kevin P. Gallagher and Richard Kozul-Wright to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2022 by Polity Press
Polity Press
65 Bridge Street
Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK
Polity Press
101 Station Landing
Suite 300
Medford, MA 02155, USA
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4655-8
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021942106
The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.
Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.
For further information on Polity, visit our website:
1 The Fierce Urgency of Now: The Case for a New Bretton Woods Moment
We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there “is” such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.
Martin Luther King, 1967
At the height of the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King called for vigorous action, on both the domestic and international fronts, to fight injustice and prevent the world heading toward “violent coannihilation.” Today, such action is just as urgent to tackle polarizing inequality, growing economic insecurity, and a breakdown of the climate system. While the policy responses must be linked to local needs and experiences and will require dedicated and determined actions by national governments, the increasingly intertwined nature of these challenges can only be effectively tackled with the support of ambitious global action and coordination.
Promoting international cooperation is, to a large extent, the job of the multilateral system that emerged after World War Two. The question is whether that system is up to the scale and urgency of these challenges.
Multilateral institutions