In the wake of the global credit crunch, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has come under renewed scrutiny. Some critics have signaled that a raise in contributions should be matched with more representation for those donors. Others have asked if the IMF should not have seen the current crisis coming and if the organization still has a credible role to play on the world stage, as for decades it promoted a neo-liberal agenda of privatization, deregulation and liberalization of financial markets in developing countries. Today it stands among the main cheerleaders for the wave of state interventions to keep the global financial system afloat. The IMF was established at Bretton Woods in 1944 with the goal of stabilizing exchange rates and assisting in the reconstruction of the post-WWII global order. Today the IMF has 185 member states, whose financial contributions enable the organization to offer short-term loans to countries with
