1944 or 1933? The drawbacks of the world financial summits

Since the world financial crisis gained momentum in recent weeks, politicians have developed a surprising level of activity, considering that OECD-countries have been ignoring the problems in international finance for years. Neither the large capital flows to the United States nor the weakening position of the International Monetary Fund were given serious consideration. Financial crises used to happen elsewhere, not in the core of the capitalist world. A series of conferences on international finance shall contribute to both the solution of the crisis and to making the international financial regime more robust and less crisis-prone. The first of these will take place on 15 November in Washington. At face value, the desire to learn from the current crisis looks convincing. But the risks are substantial. Without having a concept for the re-structuring of the international financial architecture, these conferences may not yield the expected results. Moreover, they may even contribute to a further deterioration of global financial governance