International Norms and the Practice of Sovereignty

Abstract

In the closing decade of the twentieth century, the end of the Cold War brought with it a flowering of multilateralism that seemed to flourish in a zeitgeist of globalization (Rosenberg, 2005). State interactions were no longer framed in terms of an East-West conflict and consequently it seemed as if this change opened up a freedom of action on the part of all states and not simply those with significant military or economic power. Freed from the confines of this ideological conflict, the impression developed that every voice would be heard and every issue discussed, with equal treatment for all in a renewed drive towards the collective benefit of humanity.

One lesson seems clear: that the difficulty of damming money flows in separate countries will require cooperation, achieved with intermittent gains and setbacks, in surveillance of money and capital markets when disturbed, and ultimately in the coordination of monetary and fiscal policies.

— Charles Kindleberger¹