The world economy is undergoing deep systemic and structural transformations. The way the world’s largest economies adjust and manage the transition towards a new and undetermined international economic order will be crucial for prosperity and peace. In particular the action taken or not taken in the coming five years in terms of public and private debt management and financial stability will lead to either cooperation or confrontation over the two next decades.

 

To explore their main challenges, the Institute for European Democrats and the Madariaga – College of Europe Foundation are gathering together four leading experts from China, the US, Brazil and the EU, along with four prominent European commentators.

 

The international economic system is changing because as the weight of the world economy shifts eastwards, where the standard western development model is challenged by new growth strategies, multilateral governance is leveling out in the three key pillars of the international system - i.e. trade, currency and finance and climate - because of the absence of a sufficient convergence among the main global players.

 

But the rapid rise of emerging markets puts new pressure on resources with an impact on commodity prices, physical scarcity and climate change, which will force our economies and societies to adjust towards more sustainable and fairer consumption and production patterns. Real convergence in progress will not be achieved on the basis of present Western standards. On which pillar of global economic governance are the world's major economies likely to spend their political capital on? How do they intend to correct the global imbalances that determine systemic risk?