The IMF and the future of the liberal international order

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been an integral element of the liberal international order that has been repeatedly tested. Over 80 years, the Fund has been confronted with a more diverse membership, crises of legitimacy, global power shifts, populist backlash, and a more complex global institutional landscape. This contribution explores what the Fund's responses to past challenges portend for its future. It finds that the IMF has overcome past challenges without becoming a peripheral organization or undergoing radical restructuring by engaging in frequent and at times wide-ranging incremental changes to its policies and governance structures. The contribution concludes that the IMF has been a resilient organization that is poised to remain a central element in a liberal international order.