By Harold James & Domenico Lombardi
Source: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/for-better-or-worse-russia-is-not-isolated/503270.html
PRINCETON – Russia’s current crisis, particularly the collapse of the ruble, reveals the fragility not only of the Russian economy, but also of the existing international order and the foundations of contemporary thinking about economic and political sustainability. Indeed, Russia’s crisis was never supposed to happen – and its growing isolation gives it little stake in existing mechanisms of global governance.
After the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s and the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 (which also affected Russia), emerging economies were determined to figure out how to avoid repeating that experience. They identified three keys to managing the perils of modern financial globalization: a large cushion of reserves to stave off speculative attacks; avoidance of large current-account deficits (with surpluses used to accumulate reserves); and low external public and private debt.
Moreover, the emerging economies took governance lessons, recognizing the imperative of improving transparency and reducing corruption. And policymakers and financial institutions devoted considerable attention to determining what might constitute warning indicators.
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Harold James is Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University, Professor of History at the European University Institute, Florence, and a senior fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation. A specialist on German economic history and on globalization, he is the author of The Creation and Destruction of Value: The Globalization Cycle, Krupp: A History of the Legendary German Firm, and Making the European Monetary Union.
Domenico Lombardi is Director of the Global Economy Program at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Canada.
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