Beyond Bretton Woods
Dr Kashif Hasan Khan
How economic corridors are reshaping globalisation
Over the past two
decades, globalisation has experienced a gradual transformation. Long dominated
by Bretton Woods institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and
World Bank, the landscape of global development finance is now more
pluralistic. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has emerged as an
alternative, offering large-scale infrastructure financing that typically lacks
the policy conditionalities associated with traditional Western lenders.
Through state-backed institutions such as the Export–Import Bank and the China
Development Bank, Chinese lending has, in some cases, rivaled or exceeded World
Bank funding across parts of the Global South. This diversification in
financing sources raises important considerations about sovereignty,
development priorities, and the evolving architecture of global economic
cooperation.
Historically,
postcolonial states often turned to Western institutions for development
funding. While this model contributed to success stories in countries like
South Korea, Chile, and post-liberalisation India, it also led, in many
low-income contexts, to repeated debt burdens and reduced policy space. The
emphasis on structural reforms sometimes came at the expense of tailored,
locally grounded development strategies.
By contrast, the
BRI model emphasises physical infrastructure—railways, ports, energy plants—as
a catalyst for growth. While concerns around debt sustainability and
transparency have been raised, many recipient countries perceive BRI
investments as a path to reclaiming economic agency. Projects like the Addis
Ababa–Djibouti railway or the Lagos–Ibadan rail line illustrate how
infrastructure can reshape regional connectivity and economic potential.
However, this evolution in development financing is not simply a China-versus-West dichotomy. Recent analyses, such as those from the Committee for the Abol
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