The Currency of Power The IMF and Monetary Reform in Central Asia [Hardcover]

This book examines how the International Monetary Fund engages in the politics of ideas to shape domestic institutional change. Drawing on case studies from post-Soviet Central Asia, Andr? Broome explains that how governments interpret their policy options mediates the IMF's influence over economic reform during periods of crisis and uncertainty.List?of Illustrations Preface List of Abbreviations Introduction Institutional Change and the IMF Expanding the International Monetary Order after the Cold War The Disintegration of the Ruble Zone Designer Capitalism in Central Asia The Scope of the IMF's Influence in Central Asia Conclusion References Index

'Broome's fascinating study does much to demystify the role of the International Monetary Fund in promoting economic liberalization around the world. Extensive fieldwork in post-Soviet Central Asia grounds an exemplary analysis of the normative and material conditions required for enduring policy change. His depiction of the Fund as reputational intermediary is subtle and convincing. Students of international economics, international political economy, and regional studies will find here an accessible and rewarding introduction to the real world of monetary and financial policy reform.' - Louis W. Pauly, Canada Research Chair in Globalization and Governance, University of Toronto, Canada

'The Currency of Power is an insightful account of how the International Monetary Fund influences policies and policy-orientations among borrower governments. The book takes an original, fresh angle in looking at three central Asian Republics (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic). Because these 'frontier' cases are under-studied, this focus makes for a valuable contribution in and of itself. But a further, fascinating pay-off is the contrast between countries in some ways starting with a blank slate in a formal institutional sense after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but also bound by a dense web olÓ7