Should, and Can, Global Finance Be Submitted to International Law?

In the current polycrisis scenario, many are calling for a new Bretton Woods moment, wherein the international financial institutions of the 20th century will undergo sweeping reforms to promote a more prosperous, just and sustainable world economic order. This much-needed transformation requires a new commitment to international cooperation and a rebalancing of “the relationship between capital, labor, and the natural environment in a way that turns ‘prosperity for all’ from prime-time sloganeering into the senso commune (common sense) of international economic cooperation”. So far, however, only timid progress has been made. The contribution will address some of the challenges currently faced by the Bretton Woods institutions and then move to focus on the impending debt crisis and the sovereign debt restructuring legal framework.