ABSTRACT
For scholars and practitioners of global economic governance (GEG), the onset of the crisis in 2007–08 triggered deep cognitive dissonance. On the heels of beleaguered international trade talks, devastating volatility in global commodity prices and growing disenchantment with Western models of development and aid, the financial shocks that reverberated from Wall Street to the rest of the world called into question many of the conventional wisdoms regarding how and by whom the world economy should be run. Such dissent is hardly new, as evident in the growth of protest movements surrounding the global governance of trade, finance and development over the previous two decades (O’Brien et al. 2000; Broad 2002; Stiglitz 2002; Wilkinson 2006; Scholte 2011). Yet, the financial meltdown of the world’s leading economy significantly sharpened public awareness and attention to the exigencies of global economic governance reform.
