COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The Practicum in International Affairs provides a hands-on introduction to policy work in the field of global affairs, leveraging the practitioner’s experience and engaging students in active participation and discussion.

This course examines the global economy’s governance mechanisms and the role played by the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) as the backbone of global financial architecture. It discusses factors that shape global economic governance today with a focus on history, functions, and operations of key multilateral financial institutions, devoting special attention to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group (WBG), also known as the Bretton Woods Institutions. Relying on a hands-on approach, students will be provided with a holistic framework for gaining an understanding of the role that IFIs play to prevent or deal with crises affecting countries and to bolster efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); their governance and business models; the approaches and modalities they use for supporting Member States and the international community; and the criticisms they face, including for the imposition of conditionality on their lending arrangements. 

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

The course takes a hands-on approach to delve into the complexity of global economic governance. The main topics covered during the course include: (1) Introduction to the concepts of global economic governance and global financial architecture: a historical perspective to the establishment of the IFIs, G-groupings (e.g., G10, G77, G7, and G20), and other international economic and financial forums and arrangements and the global challenges they were established to address; (2) The Bretton Woods Institutions: (i) original mandates and evolutions; (ii) governance, decision-making, and accountability; (iii) structure and organization; (iv) main activities and operations; (v) resource mobilization, funding, and income models; (3) Criticisms surrounding the Bretton Woods Institutions and reforms; (4) career paths within the IFIs.