The Financial Crisis and its effects on politics in the Developing World

In class, we discussed how developing countries face an added dimension of difficulty in deciding and implementing policies due to the strong presence of international actors and organizations in their countries. In recent times, many of these countries have often argued that the policy recommendations (or in some cases, policy restrictions) made by international organizations tend to be unsuitable for developing countries, as the policies tend to come from the power players of the international community: the Western industrialized nations. The argument is, not only are the political and economic ideologies of the developed and the developing world vary from state to state, moreover, their economic concerns and goals are vastly divergent. More often than not, developing countries feel that they are getting the short end of the stick, for by complying with the policies of international organizations they end up only helping the growth of already developed countries instead of being able to focus on their own struggles.

However, I believe the traditional imbalance of power between developed and developing countries in policy making in the international community is starting to change with the now-global financial crisis. The best example of this is the recent G20 meeting on the financial crisis. The G20 comprises about 90% of the global GDP, and is much more of a truly international economic body than the G7 or G8 and includes many developing countries that also have rapidly expanding economies. This inclusion of those outside the usual clique of developed industrialized nations in developing international policy that the G8 leaders are aware of how much assistance they are going to need from developing countries to get out of this current economic crisis. Not only are developing countries getting a seat at the table for a critical international issue, they also currently hold significant power in developing policy as they are the countries whose banks are in the best health.

This shift of power, while subtle now, will only get more visible as time goes on. For to resolve the financial crisis, there needs to be cooperation and assistance from many developing countries and international policy can no longer be solely determined by the developed world as they are the ones trapped in crisis. The policy of international organizations and the international community can finally be international, instead of being an extra political limb for the Western world.