Since the end of the Cold War, the forces of globalization – although existent prior to 1989 – became increasingly obvious. The Western world has felt the lack of geographical boundaries when it comes to problems such as poverty or civil conflict – the situation in Afghanistan, for instance, was ignored. The consequences proved disastrous to the United States.
The role of institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank become increasingly important in a world whose boundaries seem to be ever blurring, be it militarily or economically. Where the World Bank was founded in order to reconstruct Europe after the Second World War, the IMF was to ensure global economic stability and development.
The IMF and Civil Stability
Within the context of globalization, economic stability tends to go hand in hand with civil and social stability – one must look no further than Greece in the recent recession in order to see the effect national economical discontent can have on the country's citizens.