Brookings-CIGI Global Governance Seminar Series

The Brookings-CIGI global governance seminar series features discussion of critical governance issues with Washington-based officials from industrial countries and emerging market economies, particularly representatives from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank delegations, embassies and leading think tank experts. The seminar series began in 2005 and discussions are considered off-the-record. Each seminar is jointly hosted by Brookings and the Centre for Global Governance Innovation (CIGI) based in Waterloo, Canada.

Among recent topics discussed, the International Monetary Fund reform has emerged as a key issue due to initiatives taken by the IMF, the actions taken by the IMF Board of Governors at the Bank-Fund Annual Meetings in Singapore in the fall of 2006, and the increasing visibility of the IMF in the wake of the subprime lending crisis beginning in the summer of 2007. The debate about IMF governance reforms has been joined with a discussion about the purpose of the IMF as a global financial institution and its role in the global economy.

Related content regarding the IMF includes:

“A Vision for the Future IMF and the Nature of Power within It”
January 18, 2008

“Double Majority Voting at the IMF” 
February 8, 2008

“Assessment of Current IMF Reform Proposals”
February 22, 2008

On March 26, 2008, eight think tank researchers involved in the Brookings-CIGI seminar series sent a letter to the Executive Directors of the IMF expressing concern about the adequacy of the quota formula reform that was voted on by the IMF Board on March 28, 2008.