China in Global Economic Governance

The US led international economic order has endured since the end of World War Two. China’s rapid economic ascent, along with other rising powers like Brazil and India, have raised questions as to how they will reshape the international order including specific institutions. Changing economic weights have already affected the possibility of realizing international trade agreements through the WTO. Monetarily, the shift from the G7 to the G20 was hastened by the need for economic stimulus from rising powers after the Global Financial Crisis beginning in 2007. In terms of global development, aid lending is highly contested over the need for borrowers to have greater ownership over their development while holding onto well-established principles designed to protect the environment and societies. Contesting visions are apparent between the US and China over the future of international development lending. While China has benefited from the international order and there is some recognition that it will seek to uphold it, this does not mean that China will not by its very existence, influence international institutions. How will its economic weight shape global economic and political structures? Will China’s non-democratic model of government affect how global economic decisions are made? This focus group, led by Hans Fischer Senior Fellow Prof. Susan Park and her host Prof. Eugénia da Conceição-Heldt, will map China’s role in global economic governance with an eye towards theory building regarding the role of hegemons in global economic governance and the Multilateral Development Banks in particular.