The problems of the global economy and the international court of arbitration of sovereign debt

Abstract

The disfunctionality of the international financial system, expressed with special clarity in the recent argentinean crisis (2001) and of the asian markets (1997 – 98), only confirms, in the view of the authors, the imperious necesity of a deep reform and democratization of credit institutions at a world scale. The main task of the IMF should have never been that of a last instance lender, but that of a warranter of fair conditions that would allow countries on their way to developement a better and more just acces to credit. As a way of recomendation, the authors propose the creation of an International Arbitration Tribunal for Sovereign Debt, who should have the mission of a multilateral entity and counterweight to the power the creditress institutions over the existing organisms (World Banc, IMF, Paris Club). On the other side, the current dominant conception that no longer considers countries as sovereign entities, rather as enterprises, subject to banckruptcy and embargo, is discussed and criticized.