Foreign Policy in Focus articles from August 1999

Foreign Policy in Focus archives from August 1999

Multilateral Debt.
August 1, 1999... Multilateral debt is that portion of a country's external debt burden owed to international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. For most of the world's poorest countries, multilateral...

Problems With Current U.S. Policy.
August 1, 1999... Voting power at the World Bank and the IMF is apportioned according to the size of each country's monetary contribution. The U.S. has by far the largest share (18% of all votes) and can veto policy decisions, since they require an 85% vote. The...

Toward a New Foreign Policy.
August 1, 1999... For countries that have endured decades of severe indebtedness, poverty, and subordination to the IFIs' economic policies, cancellation of substantial portions, if not all, of their outstanding debt, as urged by Jubilee 2000, is necessary if...

International Investment Rules and the Environment: Stuck in the Mud?
August 15, 1999... The governance of international capital flows will be one of the key environmental policy issues of the next decade. Along with labor, human rights, and other social advocates, environmentalists are increasingly demanding that international...

Problems With Current U.S. Policy.
August 15, 1999... Current U.S. policy rests squarely on neoliberalism--dismantling national barriers to international trade and investment and creating global commercial disciplines while leaving the social and environmental regulation of markets to nations. ...

Toward a New Foreign Policy.
August 15, 1999... The U.S. will play a decisive role in shaping the regulatory architecture for international investment. To shoulder its global role responsibly, Washington must first dearly define its policy goals. In the MAI (Multilateral Agreement on...