Global Perspectives on the Bretton Woods Conference and the Post-War World Order (The World of the Roosevelts)

"This book repositions the groundbreaking Bretton Woods conference of July 1944 as the first large-scale multilateral North-South dialogue on global financial governance. It moves beyond the usual focus on Anglo-American interests by highlighting the influence of delegations from Latin America, India, the Soviet Union, France, and others. It also investigates how state and private interests intermingled, collided, and compromised during the negotiations on the way to a set of regulations and institutions that still partly frame global economic governance in the early twenty-first century. Together, these essays lay the groundwork for a more comprehensive analysis of Bretton Woods as a pivotal site of multilateralism in international history."-- Provided by publisher Acknowledgements 6 Contents 7 Editors and Contributors 10 Chapter 1 Bretton Woods: A Global Perspective 15 Part I Bretton Woods: The Pre-War Order 28 Chapter 2 What’s Been Missing from Conventional Histories of Bretton Woods? 29 Bretton Woods’ Incremental Origins 30 Bretton Woods’ Procedural Multilateralism 33 Bretton Woods’ International Development Focus 38 Conclusion 43 Chapter 3 “Prelude to the Future”: The Antecedents of the Bretton Woods Architecture 47 The Ontology of ‘Economic’ Security 49 Reflections on the League Experience 53 Conclusion 57 Part II Multinational Perspectives: Europe 63 Chapter 4 The Benelux’s Monetary Diplomacy and the Bretton Woods Conference 64 The Reaction of the Benelux to the Keynes Plan 64 The Reactions of the Benelux to the White Plan 69 The 1943 Benelux Monetary Agreement and Bretton Woods 72 Benelux Coordination During the Bretton Woods Conference 74 Conclusion: Gutt and Beyen at the IMF and the IBRD 78 Chapter 5 French Monetary Policy and the Bretton Woods System: Criticisms, Proposals and Conflicts 83 France at the Bretton Woods Conference 85 France’s Deliberate Withdrawal 88 From Reform Proposals to a Political Clash 89 Conclusion 93 Chapter 6 The Soviet Union and the Bretton Woods Conference 98 Internal Deliberations 99 Participation 104 Intermediate Evaluations 110 The Final Decision 111 Conclusion 113 Part III Multinational Perspectives: Asia and the Americas 117 Chapter 7 “Asia” at Bretton Woods: India, China, and Australasia in Comparative Perspective 118 Introduction 118 The Delegates 119 The Indian Delegation 119 The Chinese Delegation 120 The Australian and New Zealand Delegations 122 The Issues 123 The Implications 131 Chapter 8 Assessing the “Multilateral” Nature of the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference: An Analysis of Indian Participation 135 Introduction 135 The ‘South’ at the Bretton Woods Conference 136 India at the Bretton Woods Conference 139 Development Goals 142 Convertibility of Sterling Balances 143 Quota Allocation 144 Management Role 145 After the Bretton Woods Conference 146 Conclusions 148 Chapter 9 Voice and Vote for the Weaker Nations: Mexico’s Bretton Woods 155 Mexican Antecedents 157 The Build-Up to Bretton Woods 159 The Bretton Woods Conference 161 Conclusion 165 Chapter 10 Canada and Bretton Woods 172 The White and Keynes Plans 174 The Canadian Plan 179 The Joint Statement 182 Bretton Woods 183 Conclusion 186 Part IV Public Figures and Private Sector Interests 192 Chapter 11 Beyen at Bretton Woods: “Much More Significant Under the Surface...” 193 Jan Willem Beyen’s Early Career 195 Beyen’s Views on Economic Policy 196 Beyen at Bretton Woods 198 The Debate Surrounding the Liquidation of BIS 203 Conclusion 206 Chapter 12 Dean Acheson, Bretton Woods and the American Role in the International Economy 211 Dean Acheson’s Career 212 Acheson and Economic Diplomacy 213 The Bretton Woods Conference, July 1944 217 Persuading the American Public 220 Acheson and Congress: Securing Legislation 222 Conclusion 223 Chapter 13 “New Lanes in Uncharted Seas”: The Federal Reserve and Bretton Woods 229 Introduction 229 The Structure and Function of the Federal Reserve System 230 Collapse of the Interwar Gold Standard 232 Alternatives to Bretton Woods—The “Key Currency” Proposal 234 Debating Bretton Woods 235 The American Commitment to Internationalism 237 Bretton Woods and the Federal Reserve System 239 Conclusion 241 Part V The Trade Follow-Up: The ITO and the GATT 247 Chapter 14 The Man Who Wasn’t There: Cordell Hull, Bretton Woods, and the Creation of the GATT 248 The Transformation of the US Foreign Policy 251 Currency Stability and International Trade 256 Conclusion 260 Chapter 15 Where Was Trade at Bretton Woods? 265 Why Wasn’t Trade Included at Bretton Woods? 267 Bretton Woods Postscript: The GATT, ITO and Trade Talks after the War 274 Conclusion: Writing Trade Back into Bretton Woods 276 Chapter 16 Bretton Woods, the International Trade Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization 283 The Interwar Crisis of Agriculture 285 The First United Nations Conference: The Hot Springs Conference on Food and Agriculture 286 Commodity Policy at Bretton Woods 287 Commodity Policy in the Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Trade Organization 288 Commodity Policy in the International Trade Organization 290 The Commodity Chapter of the ITO Charter 292 FAO’s International Commodity Clearing House 293 The Demise of ITO 295 Conclusion 296 Index 302 Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Bretton Woods: A Global Perspective (Giles Scott-Smith, J. Simon Rofe)....Pages 1-13 Front Matter ....Pages 15-15 What’s Been Missing from Conventional Histories of Bretton Woods? (Eric Helleiner)....Pages 17-34 “Prelude to the Future”: The Antecedents of the Bretton Woods Architecture (J. Simon Rofe)....Pages 35-50 Front Matter ....Pages 51-51 The Benelux’s Monetary Diplomacy and the Bretton Woods Conference (Thierry Grosbois)....Pages 53-71 French Monetary Policy and the Bretton Woods System: Criticisms, Proposals and Conflicts (Eric Monnet)....Pages 73-87 The Soviet Union and the Bretton Woods Conference (Vladimir O. Pechatnov)....Pages 89-107 Front Matter ....Pages 109-109 “Asia” at Bretton Woods: India, China, and Australasia in Comparative Perspective (Michael Franczak)....Pages 111-127 Assessing the “Multilateral” Nature of the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference: An Analysis of Indian Participation (Archna Negi)....Pages 129-148 Voice and Vote for the Weaker Nations: Mexico’s Bretton Woods (Christy Thornton)....Pages 149-165 Canada and Bretton Woods (Kathleen Britt Rasmussen)....Pages 167-186 Front Matter ....Pages 187-187 Beyen at Bretton Woods: “Much More Significant Under the Surface...” (Ben Wubs)....Pages 189-206 Dean Acheson, Bretton Woods and the American Role in the International Economy (Michael F. Hopkins)....Pages 207-224 “New Lanes in Uncharted Seas”: The Federal Reserve and Bretton Woods (Timothy W. Wintour)....Pages 225-242 Front Matter ....Pages 243-243 The Man Who Wasn’t There: Cordell Hull, Bretton Woods, and the Creation of the GATT (David B. Woolner)....Pages 245-261 Where Was Trade at Bretton Woods? (Francine McKenzie)....Pages 263-280 Bretton Woods, the International Trade Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization (Ruth Jachertz)....Pages 281-299 Back Matter ....Pages 301-305 Annotation Repositioning the groundbreaking Bretton Woods conference of July 1944 as the first large-scale multilateral North-South dialogue on global financial governance, this volume moves beyond the usual focus on Anglo-American interests by highlighting the influence of delegations from Latin America, India, the Soviet Union, France, and others. It also investigates how state and private interests intermingled, collided, and compromised during the negotiations on the way to a set of regulations and institutions that still partly frame global economic governance in the early 21st century. Together, these essays lay the groundwork for a more comprehensive analysis of Bretton Woods as a pivotal site of multilateralism in international history