The September 2008 financial market collapse and subsequent world economic crisis have significantly influenced international scholarly debate, policy practice, and economic relations. The economic crisis has led experts and policy actors to redefine core aspects of economic governance. I analyze current competing perspectives on economic issues within the Group of Twenty (G20) and argue that discursive contestation has delegitimized previous neoclassical conventional wisdom, especially the efficient markets hypothesis. This has been rejected as a core principle of economic policy by industrialized and developing states, plus international fora. As a consequence, the bounds of rationality of individual actors and policy norms have been reconstituted. Also Keynesian policies have been implemented in important national and international contexts. I compare the contemporary situation with the post-war "Bretton Woods era" of embedded liberalism, concluding that many recent national policies and the consolidation of international economic governance constitute an ad hoc embedded liberalism.

No abstract

This article examines relations between the BRICS and leading industrialized states. It starts by analyzing the former's mutual relations, focusing on how the ideational construct presented by Jim O'Neill in his “BRIC hypothesis” became formalized as a leader‐level diplomatic group at a summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009. I evaluate how the BRICS have influenced international issues and whether “cooperation” or “conflict” characterizes their relations with key industrialized states, concluding that there has been greater multilateral cooperation since 2008, especially through international forums such as the G20. The BRICS partnership is one of unequals, significant for international economic relations primarily due to China. This has had important consequences as the Chinese government has prioritized economic cooperation with leading industrialized states. Influential countries can continue to benefit by enhancing multilateral ties in what are often nonzero–sum situations.

No abstract

No abstract