Odious Debt: Driving Change in Sovereign Debt Governance

Zusammenfassung

Many solutions to the problem of odious debt have been proposed by the literature, yet none have made the transition into practice. This is due, in part, to the fact that many proposals are brought forth without first considering the environment in which they aim to be introduced. Accordingly, this chapter first analyses the web of international economic governance that surrounds sovereign debt and looks at its role in shaping the current discourse on odious debt. Whether the debt regime as it stands will move towards addressing the problem of odious debt will largely depend on the actors that are capable to drive change within it. Past experience has shown that the evolution of the official governance framework with regards to debt stems from synergies between various forms of power over key institutions, evolving knowledge and understanding as well an evolving discourse on key issues of debt.